Stronger
by Forced Simile
Summary: You know how it starts: Hector saves Florina, she wants to talk to him. There's several problems: She's scared of men, she has a witless winged horse, a crazy cleric is following her around, and Fiora...well...at least she's less paranoid than Lyn.
1. The Wish

Wow. It's about time I started writing this. Yes, it is a Hector/Florina. I will not change it, so if you don't like that couple, leave now please. If you're willing to deal with it, or you just love Hector/Florina, stick around and I'll try not to let you down.

* * *

**Chapter One: The Wish**

For as long as Florina could remember, she had dreamed of becoming a Pegasus knight. A Pegasus knight had to be strong, agile and courageous. Florina had the agile part down packed, her strength was improving, however, she lacked in the courage area. People intimidated her, men especially.

Her attitude had changed slightly since meeting Lyndis and helping her claim her rightful position in the House of Caelin. She had become Lyndis' vassal and worked along side men quite often. Florina's fears had certainly lessened…

But they certainly weren't gone either. Florina was determined to get over this fear somehow. If only there was something she could do to prove her worth…

That something came. Castle Caelin was under attack, and Wil was scouting the area. Florina was at her lady's side watching as she paced back and forth.

"I should have never left the castle!" Lyndis said to herself, "I should have never left grandfather..."

"Lyn, it's all right," Florina said to her, "We'll save him somehow."

The taller girl sighed, "I'm just worried Florina. What if they..."

"Lyn!" a male voice called. Wil was back from scouting, "The defenses around the castle are pretty tight. But I'm hearing rumors that Lord Eliwood and his men are in Laus."

"Really? That could be to our advantage!" Lyndis remarked, "If only we could contact him..."

"I could go," Wil offered.

"Yes, you could. It'd be difficult for Kent and Sain, what with their horses and all. Travel lightly now," Lyndis instructed. Florina saw her opportunity. It was now or never.

"I-I could go Lyn!" she said working up her nerve. Lyndis and Wil turned to the Pegasus knight and blinked.

"You?" Lyndis began, "But Florina—"

"I can get there faster than anybody," the lavender haired girl continued, "and I can handle talking with Lord Eliwood. I've met him before."

"You've convinced me, Florina, the job is yours," The young noble said.

"I won't let you down, Lyn," Florina said taking off. Lyndis waved after her almost wistfully. Sain and Kent rode up to beside her.

"Florina spoke most forcefully on your behalf," Sain remarked, "Beautiful!"

Kent rolled his eyes in annoyance, "Every woman is beautiful to you, why should now be any different?"

Sain pretended to be offended by Kent's last statement, but in all actuality, he had grown immune to his companions slighting words. Lyndis sighed reflectively.

"I used to protect her all the time on the plains, it's hard to let go of those days," she said softly. Wil let out a long sigh.

"They grow up so fast, don't they?" he said jokingly to the young Sacean girl. The joke had completely escaped her notice, for she nodded in reply.

"Yeah. I hope I didn't put her in too much danger..."

-

Florina was now a few miles above the ground, flying as fast as she could. Laus was west some, and then a bit north. Florina grasped her reigns and took a deep breath. Getting there wasn't even half the battle for her. It was talking to Lord Eliwood that would pose a real challenge.

Florina sighed and patted Huey, and took several more deep breathes.

"Come on! Just once, I want my fears to go away! I want something good to happen to me!" she said out loud. Just as she turned her attention to the ground she saw a band of ragtag soldiers. At the head was a familiar face, framed by red hair.

Florina gasped in surprise, "Lord Eliwood!" With that she flew in closer. He seemed to notice her.

"Florina, is that you?" he called.

"Yes!" she cried back, "I'm Lady Lyn's—"

"Florina! Look out!" Eliwood called frantically. Florina was confused.

"What?" she questioned. She yelped as an arrow came whizzing past her face. She dodged most of the arrows with considerable skill, but she was not so successful during the next one. She felt a sharp pain in her shoulder as an arrow stuck her dead on. Without warning she slid off from Huey's back and was plummeting for the ground.

She shut her eyes. This was it, there was no escaping this.

"Someone please help me..."

-

Hector had one uncanny ability, which he preferred to keep secret. He could see the future in his dreams. It all started when he was young, he dreamt he would go to school and meet this kid with red hair and they would be best friends. This came true of course, he had met Eliwood, and the two had been inseparable ever since.

Later on when he was about twelve, he dreamt that both their parents died and Uther became Marquees of Ostia. No doubt this had come true, although he rather wished it hadn't.

His dreams so far, were never wrong. When he was around fourteen, he dreamt that a Pegasus would fall from the sky and crush him. Ever since then, he worked up his strength and defenses, saying, "If that Pegasus does fall from the sky, I'll be ready one way or another!"

However, that Pegasus was the last thing on his mind, even though one was flying toward him and Eliwood at that very moment. She seemed to have some message from this Lyndis girl Eliwood wouldn't stop talking about.

Hector vaguely wondered if this Lyndis was pretty. His absent minded musings were rudely interrupted as he noticed the first volley of arrows aimed straight at the young Pegasus knight.

"Florina, watch out!" Eliwood cried. Hector watched the girl dodge the first volley easily. His companion let out a sigh of relief. Hector's sharp eyes caught the archers preparing a second volley.

"Will she make it?" he whispered. He looked up toward where he last saw her. She wasn't on her mount and it was circling aimlessly.

"They must have gotten her..." the young noble said a bit sadly. He hated to lose people in battle...He hoped Saint Emiline would grant her a nice place in heaven. Yes...maybe she'd be a pretty angel who would bless their battles from now on...

'Why on earth am I so spacey today?' Hector thought, 'Angels, heaven and whatnot...what am I a monk?'

With that, he threw up his hands in defeat, only to have a girl fall perfectly into his arms.

"What on Earth?" he said in shock. She herself was in shock, so much so that she fainted. Hector, still confused could do nothing more than gaze down at the girl in his arms. She certainly was cute...

"Hector!" Oswin cried. Hector turned to respond, but before he could he felt something heavy force him to the ground. A Pegasus.

As Oswin and the others pulled the Pegsus off of him, the young lord had the painful feeling of déjà vu. Sometimes it hurts to be right.

-

Florina opened her eyes slowly. She should be dead now with Saint Emiline in heaven blessing Lyndis in her battles to come...

"Florina? I'm glad you're all right, you had quite a fall there!" Eliwood said kindly.

"I'm alive?" the lavender haired Pegasus knight asked. Eliwood nodded.

"You're lucky," he continued, "If you had fallen on me, I wouldn't have caught you."

"If it wasn't you who caught me," Florina began, "then who did I—"

"I caught you, and your flying horse too," a loud male voice interjected. Florina yelped and rushed behind Eliwood.

"Come on Hector, stop being so sarcastic, you saved her!" Eliwood said.

"I merely gave her a soft place to land, a bale of hay would have been better," Hector replied.

"I'm so..." Florina began, "I'm very...I don't know what to say!"

"You could deliver that message you had for us," Hector suggested. Florina snapped to attention.

"Right!" she said, "Lord Eliwood, Lady Lyn is on the other side of the forest. She is looking for a way to get into the Castle and rescue the marquees. Your assistance in this endeavor is greatly appreciated."

"Yes, I think we shall help you," Eliwood said taking out his rapier, "What do you think Hector?"

"Yes, let's get going," the taller boy replied, "Mark!"

Florina turned to see who responded to that name. Could it be...?

"Yes, Lord Hector?" a green robed figure said. Those robes could belong to no one other than the tactician Mark, who had helped Lyndis one year earlier.

"Will you stop calling me that," the blue haired Ostian said, "Just Hector will do fine. Suit everybody up, we're going to battle."

"Will do," Mark said. He put on what Lyndis called, his "battle" face, "All right everyone, you heard Hector, we're going to battle! Let's move!"

He positioned everyone as he saw fit, but he saved Florina for last. Florina wasn't _as_ afraid of Mark as she was of everyone else. Whether Mark liked it or not, he had a fairly effeminate face, and a soft voice when he was outside of battle. While he was not as androgynous as say, Lucius, he had a very gentile look about him. She never feared to listen to Mark's orders.

"M-mark?" she said softly.

"Yes, Florina?" he replied.

"I-I'm right here if you need me..." the Pegasus knight said. Mark smiled knowingly.

"Gotcha," he said.

-

And so the battle began. Florina was a little uneasy. She had never fought with these people before. She had to keep a strong face. Don't get scared...

"Hector, watch those Pegasus knights to your right," Mark warned the axe-wielding lord. Hector gripped his weapon. Florina had her eyes fixed on him suddenly, waiting to see what he would do.

The enemy Pegasus knight tried to strike first, but missed. Hector, wasn't nearly as cumbersome, for in one fatal sweep, he cleaved the Pegasus' wing off and left both the flying horse and its rider to bleed to death.

Florina felt her blood run cold and her face blanched considerably. She buried her face in her Pegasus' mane.

"L-lord Hector is not s-scary. H-he was just trying t-to destroy the enemy. H-he wouldn't attack one of his o-own soldiers..." the lavender haired girl mumbled to herself. Mark saw Florina's reaction to Hector's attack and he could see Florina's "condition" hadn't improved much.

"Dorcas, stay near Florina, she's a bit shaken," he said to the older man, "And she needs to see a familiar face."

Dorcas nodded and took his place beside the wisp of a girl. Florina had finally lifted her paling face from Huey's mane.

"D-Dorcas?" Florina said. The red haired man smiled slightly and nodded.

"We'll be fighting together again it seems," he said. Florina's expression brightened.

"G-good," she said almost like a sigh of relief. She remembered his wife and how gentle he was with her. Dorcas wouldn't let anything happen to her if he could help it.

Florina was lucky. Dorcas was a man of few words, so it didn't matter if she didn't say anything to him. At least someone was there that she recognized, even if it was a man.

-

Lyndis and her soldiers met up with Hector's small army in a short time. Hector tore through enemies easily, but almost wildly. Lyndis almost got her head chopped off by Hector's axe. Luckily she dodged just in time.

"Hector!" a familiar voice called, "Trade places with Dorcas!"

Lyndis smirked, "Mark."

But as she saw Hector move near Florina, one thing worried her. She feared for Florina's safety with him. He was not always aware of the location of his allies, he might hurt the small Pegasus knight by accident.

"Is something the matter, Lady Lyndis?" Kent said as he rode up beside her.

"Florina is fighting next to that Lord Hector," the Sacaean girl told the cavalier, "His fighting style is not very controlled. I'm worried he might hurt her."

"That is the least of my worries," Kent said, "The tactician has every intent of sending Florina and Lord Hector into full fledged battle with the general guarding the gate. In fact, he instructed me to bring my heavy spear to her."

"What is he thinking!" Lyndis cried. Kent winced at her sudden outburst.

"I'm sorry my lady, I will do as I was instructed, I trust this tactician," the red haired man said.

"Yeah, I trust Mark too," she replied. Kent smiled.

"Then I trust you saw him?" he said. Lyndis nodded.

Kent sighed, "I hope he knows what he's doing."

He bid his lady good bye as he rode away to trade with Florina. Lyndis hoped Mark wasn't going completely mad.

As Kent caught up with Florina, he could see the brown haired boy talking with her. Kent also noticed Florina's change in pallor as Lord Hector joined them.

"Ah, here he is!" Mark said to the cavalier rode to his side. Kent handed Florina his heavy spear. It looked too big and clumsy in her small hands and she was visibly shaking. Kent smiled at her kindly.

"Have courage, Florina," he said. The Pegasus knight nodded dumbly. Hector tapped his foot impatiently.

"I can do this myself if she's too scared," he said gruffly.

"She's going with you," Mark replied firmly.

Hector sighed, "Let's go."

-

Florina noticed that Huey was getting a little worn out after flying so far, and fighting for so long. She patted the Pegasus.

"I know you're tired, I am too," the girl said softly, "When we get through I'll give you a nice bunch of carrots. And I'll brush you too."

"Get out of the way, will you!" a Hector cried. Florina almost jumped out of her skin. He was angry with her...images of the other Pegasus knight flashed before her eyes. Would he hurt her too? No, she was his ally...but still...

"This isn't a stable, you'll either fight, or I'll have to take drastic measures!" the heavily armored boy continued.

'Defend yourself!' her mind screamed. Florina's mouth opened, but no words of anger and determination came out. Just a typical stammered apology. Florina collapsed like a house of cards as he continued on muttering to himself. He scared the living daylights out of her. There was no way she could verbally defend herself. She couldn't do it.

"I can't do anything right..." she said softly, so the fuming lord in front of her could not hear. "I wish...I wish I could make someone like him understand what I'm thinking, why I can't do things the way he can. If I can do that, I'll be one step closer to overcoming my fear. All I want is strength to defend those I care about."

A simple and pure wish, to be sure. And as the general was coming into focus, Florina could feel her courage wane. She couldn't do this.

Little did she know that this battle was the first of many she would fight alongside Lord Hector, and how he would change her, and how she, in turn would change him.

* * *

Uh...That's the first chapter. Yep.

Next Chapter: Flare


	2. Flare

I'm sorry I took a while to get this up. I'm horribly lazey sometimes…

* * *

**Chapter Two: Flare**

Working with an army always bought on its challenges. Being a soldier in itself was hard enough, but it was even more difficult to be a tactician. When dealing with a range of talent and experience, such as in this army Mark was working for, you had to deal with quite a few characters. Right now, Mark was focusing on two people.

Mark could see immediately from the moment he met Hector, that the guy was a short fuse. His fighting style was large, bold and dangerous. No wonder Oswin was the only guy who could guard him, he had such thick armor even Hector had trouble getting through it without his Wolf Biel.

Mark also had another issue to work with. Florina. The girl had so much potential, but she fought the way she acted, shy and limited.

Hector needed to find someway to control his actions and Florina needed something to bring out her inner strength. So, Mark threw the two together. Hector would have to be aware of the fragile girl, and Florina would be forced to finally stand up for herself and tell Hector to watch it. That and Hector could defend Florina from axes and she could defend him from swords. It all worked out very nicely.

As he was contemplating his plans to work with the rest of the army, Kent came to his side.

"Lady Lyndis is worried about your putting Lord Hector with Florina," the red haired cavalier said, "Although we trust your judgment, we're just wondering if you forgot about Florina's 'condition?'"

"I know just what I'm doing, Kent," Mark said. He gazed curiously at the knight. Who could be Kent's battle partner? It had to be to a tactical advantage...

* * *

While Mark finished bringing the rest of the army to the castle gate, Hector wasted no time in attacking General Bauker. Florina was left standing off at a safe distance, watching him make short work of the general's armor. 

"Hector was right, he didn't need me," Florina mumbled. Huey snorted indignantly. The girl felt her eyes well up with tears. All she wanted was to have a little strength, to show she was ready and willing to stand up for those she cared for. How could she do that with someone like Hector, who would act twice as fast and use twice as much strength and force than she even had? She was didn't want to feel useless, she didn't want to be left behind. Pretty soon the general would be defeated, and all she did was watch. It made her feel so…

Huey whinnied suddenly, and the Pegasus knight refocused her attention to the battle at hand. Hector, despite all his armor, had a spear lodged in his right shoulder. Florina was confused, normally spears wouldn't hurt axe wielders quite so badly, especially one as heavily defended as Hector. Nevertheless, the young lord was having difficulty defending himself from the armored general and Florina knew she couldn't afford to just stand there. Maybe her heavy spear would come in handy.

"Come on Huey," she said snatching up the spear, "I think I have a plan."

The winged horse seemed to understand what Florina meant, even though it was quite clear, she wasn't quite sure if it would work. Huey flew upwards a good distance, toward the enemy's blind side.

As they flew higher, Florina felt fairly unfamiliar feelings grow in her chest. Defiance, anger, and adrenaline all culminated as she raised her spear high above her head and gave it a neat twirl. If she couldn't express herself in one way, she could do it in another. She let out a loud cry as she flew downward toward General Bauker and plunged the spear through his armor.

He uttered his dying words and collapsed. Hector, still holding his wound stared at her for a few moments with a slightly puzzled look on his face.

"Thanks, you really came through in a pinch," he said. As soon as she realized what was going on, her face flushed red.

"I-it w-was...I-I was...Um..." she stammered. Florina was a little flustered. She could take down a general, but she couldn't even accept a compliment from her own ally without stuttering like an idiot.

"Lord Hector!" a loud female voice called. It was Serra, "You're wounded! Let me fix you up!"

Florina, more than relieved for Serra's interruption, quickly flew to Lyndis' side.

"Florina, I saw what you did! That was amazing!" the young lord said. Florina's face flushed an even deeper shade of red.

"Y-you think so Lyn?" the Pegasus knight asked as she gazed down meekly.

"Yeah, I'll bet even that Lord Hector was impressed," Lyndis replied putting a hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

'Lord Hector, impressed? With _me_?' Florina mused. An interesting thought. Florina glanced shyly over at the blue haired lord as he captured the gate. He certainly had something about him that made her very curious, curious enough to talk to him. But...how on earth could she do that?

* * *

Before storming the castle, Mark wanted to discuss some last minute tactics with the three lords. During this time, Lyndis was formally introduced to Hector courtesy of Eliwood. Their introduction was...awkward to say the least. Lyndis made her concerns about Hector's fighting style known, and he was instantly on the defensive. As the two had their small banter, Florina tended to Huey. The battle wasn't quite over, and she wanted him to be in a fairly good condition. 

"Florina!" a familiar voice chirped. Florina looked up shyly knowing all to well who it was. Serra came up to her quickly and crushed her in a hug.

"Oh, I missed you and your Pegasus so much!" the cleric said in her usual loud tone of voice.

"Hi...Serra..." Florina managed to say in between gasps for air. Serra released her and smiled brightly.

"I would love to stay and chat, sweetie, but I have some business to attend to," she said in a matter of fact way, "But it was nice seeing you again! Maybe we'll work together later?"

Her gaze was instantly averted to a familiar head of blonde hair.

"Oh, Matthew!" she called. Florina was more than happy to be by herself again. Serra was someone she could only handle in small doses. Serra had such a strange personality. But Florina admired her, for she was basically the exact opposite of what she was. Serra had no problems with voicing her opinions, whether people wanted to hear them or not. She would talk to anyone and everyone and have no fear whatsoever. It made her a little envious of the pink haired cleric. To feel such freedoms around others was something she truly desired.

"So Huey, do you think we can handle another battle?" she said with a smiled. The pegasus nickered in affirmation. Florina giggled and rubbed his nose affectionately. Her dear Huey never let her down. Not one of her friends has ever failed to stand up for her, Lyn especially.

"I couldn't ask for better friends," she told Huey as she climbed on his back. The battle would be starting soon, and she assumed she would return to her assignment of fighting beside Lyn. Mark and the Sacean girl were headed her way, in a heated argument. Florina, gripped her reigns in anxiety hoping she wasn't the source of their anger. As they drew closer she could hear some of their agitated conversation.

"You wouldn't do this to her! You know how he fights, and you know how dangerous he is!" Lyndis cried.

"Lyn, you know she's good," Mark said pointedly, "She needs a bit of a challenge, and he needs one as well."

With that he continued toward Florina. The girl was already paling. He couldn't possibly mean to put her with Hector again? He scared her enough as it is. Lyn was already pursuing him.

"I know Florina better than anybody, and I say she can get just as much of a challenge with me as she can with Hector," Lyn added. The tactician shook his head.

"It's not only a matter of bringing out her potential," he said, "That place is crawling with archers. They only go for two kinds of people: pegasus knights and people who are reckless and seemingly undisciplined."

"So…you're using Hector as bait," Lyn began.

"And letting Florina move in and take them out," Mark finished, "Exactly my plan."

Lyndis sighed in defeat, "Just…make sure she gets out of this safely…you've never me down before, don't start now."

Mark nodded as Lyndis headed toward Kent and Sain. Florina felt like she was paralyzed with fear. It was hard enough dealing with Hector, but now she had to worry about archers as well. Mark came up to her with a smile on his face. Florina tried to smile back, but it seemed more like a grimace than anything else. The mousy-haired boy ignored her expression and gave her a new spear, a horseslayer.

"Use this until all the mounted archers are gone and then Sain will come and trade off with you," he instructed, "Oh and you are to stick with Hector."

"A-all right, Mark…" she stammered. Florina was sure of it. Mark had gone insane in the past year. There was no way the old Mark would have ever let her near a strange man, especially one like Hector.

'Lyn is right, I could get as much of a challenge fighting by her side as I could with Hector,' Florina thought. She was ready to tell Mark this, but the tactician was already gone. He, Eliwood, Lyn and Hector were already entering the gate and Florina had no choice but to stick with the assignment she was given.

She sighed, "Let's go Huey…"

* * *

The battle began routinely. Mark sent Matthew, Wil and Rebecca down one corridor to retrieve some needed items. As soon as all the nomads were successfully taken out, Sain took the horseslayer from Florina with a wink and went to guard the entrance with Marcus. Florina was too preoccupied with dodging arrows and defeating the enemy guards to worry about Hector too much, and he seemed to be in a similar state of mind. 

As they passed to corridor that led to the dungeon, the lavender haired girl noticed that some of the castle guards had escaped. She smiled, it was good to know that some of them were okay. Most of those that she saw were cadets that Kent and Sain had been training the other day, this probably was their first real battle. They caught up eventually after a little scuffle with the shamans on the other side of the wall.

"Don't let the cadets do too much fighting, they're probably exhausted from this whole ordeal," Hector told her. Florina nodded silently. She would have tried to say something, but there was no point right now, there was so much more to do.

"You heard him Huey, let's help them out," the pegasus knight said. She grabbed one of the young cadets and helped him climb on. As soon as he got on, a red haired girl on a horse helped another. She rode up to Florina taking out her healing staff.

"You two look tired, let me help you," she said. Florina was about to accept the offer, but the girl was pushed to the side by a pink haired cleric.

"_I'll_ take care of her, thank you very much," Serra declared. The girl nodded and went on ahead. Serra shook her head.

"Honestly, what a novice, you deserve the _best_ of care, Florina," she said, "and that only comes from me. You know it's true, Florina. Why I never thought that _you _would ever accept help from a –"

"S-Serra, I-I really need to catch up with Lord Hector," Florina told the babbling cleric. Serra's expression of annoyance changed, first to one of surprise, then to one of mischief.

"No fair, missy! I saw him first!" Serra exclaimed with a devious smirk on her face. Florina blushed red and stammered something completely incoherent as she shook her head frantically. What on earth would make the pink haired cleric think something like that?

"Serra, quit holding her up!" Hector called from a few yards away, "I have to stick with this pegasus knight or Oswin will get on my case about not listening to the tactician!"

Serra stomped her foot angrily, "Just wait a minute!"

She huffed exasperatedly and held out her glowing staff allowing the aura to heal both Florina first, and then the cadet that was with her.

"I see how it is," she said, her smirk only getting bigger as the ambient light faded. Florina's face had turned almost fuchsia at this point. She flew towards Hector in a flustered state. Serra never stopped talking…

Florina had more pressing issues to work with right now. Huey generally didn't like to have men riding him, and the cadet with them made the pegasus a bit uneasy and harder to manage. Huey, fortunately, was behaving pretty well for the most part until the final three knights came into view.

"This should be easy," Hector said with a cocky smile. Florina on the other hand was not nearly as sure of herself. Huey defiantly couldn't move fast enough to dodge their javelins with an extra passenger on his back. The three knights launched their first volley. Hector easily dodged the ones aimed at him. The pegasus knight managed to emerge with nothing more than a nasty scrape on her arm, nothing a vulnerary couldn't cure.

"That was close, huh, Huey?" she sighed in relief.

"Hey!" Hector snapped suddenly. Florina nearly fell off her pegasus at his sudden outburst. She turned slowly, her eyes wide with fear. The lavender haired girl was too stunned to speak.

"I'll take the cadet if he's slowing you down," Hector suggested. Florina nodded and helped the young man off her pegasus. Eliwood and Lyndis, escorted by Marcus and Kent came to defeat the general in the throne room. The battle was almost over and Florina couldn't be more relieved.

"Thank Emiline…" she said. This whole thing would be finished and she could go back to being with Lyn just like always. Mark must just be trying out some new tactics or something, he was always good for unorthodox methods of fighting. Her oldest sister might have a thing or two to say about his tactics.

Florina glanced over at Hector. He looked a little annoyed, probably because Mark wanted Lyn to fight the main general and not him. Or maybe he just might be a little annoyed with her. Florina knew hadn't been fighting at her best during this battle, it was indoors, and not really her element. She couldn't even really blame the cadet for any discrepancies, since she picked him up toward the end of the battle anyway. The lavender haired girl could think of nothing else that might have added to her less than stellar performance except the fact that she was deathly afraid of Hector.

Florina was so wrapped up in her thoughts she did not notice Serra standing behind her. Serra could not let this slide by without incident, of course. With a satirical smile she crossed her arms and cocked her pigtailed head to one side.

"Gazing at Lord Hector again, I see," she said. That got Florina's attention, the girl practically leaped out of her skin. If any woman could scare the pegasus knight as much as a man it was Serra.

"I-it's not l-like th-that at a-all, S-Serra," Florina stammered. Serra nodded her head slowly, the grin never leaving her face.

"Right," she said, "I saw the way he saved you before, I'm sure you thanked him profusely for his bravery and kindness."

Florina's face went completely white, "I-I didn't thank him at all…"

Serra thought she would have died laughing. This was going to be too much fun.

"You should thank him! It's only the polite thing to do! I'm sure he's expecting you to spout your gratitude to him at any moment, I mean he only saved your life and all!" the cleric continued.

"Y-You're r-right…I-I think I w-will…" Florina said. She turned to Lord Hector. All her resolve seemed to have disappeared and she stared at him at a loss of what to do. Serra saw her hesitance and daintily put a hand on the pegasus knight's shoulder.

"What are you waiting for?" the pink haired girl asked coyly. Florina looked at her, the answer showing clearly in her eyes. She was waiting for a miracle.

* * *

Once again, I'm sorry for the delay. I'll try to be more timely about this. 

**Hamano Ayumi:** And update, I did!

**Wandering Cat: **Nope, no Eli/Lyn. For some reason, I find that pairing so…boring… Gentile is what the Jewish people call all non-Jews…at least in the Bible. Which means Lucius _is_ a gentile! But that's not what I meant. Thanks for the advice! It will be fixed…eventually…

**fire-emblem-girl: **For some reason, I like guys like Hector. Once you're friends with them they're not so bad.

**Macross-Green: **It's good to know I have potential. I will work harder. :)

**TheOneAndOnlyT: **I think I got way too excited when I saw your review. Squealing like an idiot in the middle of the library at school must count as being partially insane. And being addicted to concrit. I'm a bit rusty, hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things and make this story smoother and better. cracks knuckles I'll be waiting for your advice on this chapter!

**ChibiHeart: **I hope you like this story! I'm going to try really hard to make it a good read.

**Elzi Ann: **Random question, but you wouldn't happen to be _lzn64_ on VGmix? I love that site and I just saw a review under that name and thought it might be you. I am known to rely on my dialogue despite my best efforts to focus on descriptions. It's something even my creative writing class couldn't cure me of. But it doesn't hurt to keep trying, right?


	3. Twisted Sister

Oh goodness, it's been a while. But I shall not bore you with why it took so long to get this up. On to the story!

* * *

**Chapter Three: Twisted Sisters**

Florina could only describe the past few days in two words: Living hell. She could hardly believe what Mark was doing to her. He had thrown her with the loudest, the strongest and the most intimidating of all men in their army, Hector. There was no one else she feared more, except maybe Serra. She was another person Florina couldn't seem to get used to, but lo and behold, the feisty cleric was always there.

Things progressed very fast. Lyn and the others had joined Hector's army to try and help Eliwood find his father. They were pointed in the direction of the Dread Isle. The name itself sent chills down Florina's back. They were having trouble gaining passage to such a place, but finally a group of pirates agreed to take them over, under one condition: they had to fight their way to the ship.

As the battle preparations were being made, Florina was sure she'd be with Lyndis as she had always been. However, when she saw that the Sacaean girl was with Kent and Sain, she realized she was once again fighting beside Lord Hector. What really bothered her was that she found it very hard to fight effectively if she had to continuously dodge Hector's unwieldy axe. She would never tell him so, but sometimes he would accidentally cut her leg or her arm as he was pulling back to strike an enemy. She managed to get to through the fight without any major incident and, although she knew she still wasn't at her best, she managed to do a bit better than she had in her previous battle.

They were granted a voyage to the Dread Isle, and it was on the way there that they found a familiar face, Ninian, the girl they had saved about a year ago. Florina always secretly identified with her. The green haired girl was just as quiet as she was, and maybe, just maybe, they had something in common. Perhaps they could confide in each other.

No sooner had Ninian boarded the ship, they were attacked. The Black Fang were after her, just like they were before. Florina was ready to fight to protect her friend, despite the fact that she was once again beside Lord Hector. The pegasus knight knew she had to put aside her fears and do what she thought was right.

She survived the scuffle once again, which bought her now to the part of her life that she was sure would either make or break her. They were there, at the Dread Isle. Welcoming them was a very unpleasant sight. Leila, Hector's spy and Matthew's…friend, was found dead. Then, seemingly out of no where a Sacaean man named Uhai snatched Lyn from behind and threatened them. Florina was scared, but for once she wasn't alone. Everyone was a bit shaken, Matthew himself was especially, although more by grief than fear. Florina held her reigns in anticipation of the next fight. The fog was thick and she couldn't see her enemies, which worried her. Hector was next to her once again, and she just couldn't seem to get used to the fact. She wished she could just ignore him, but every time she turned, he was there.

Merlinus was going around passing out vulneraries to everyone. He came over to Hector and placed one in his hand and continued on. Florina was confused, where was hers? She was about to inquire about it, but Hector got to it first.

"Hey, Merlinus, where's Florina's vulnerary? I thought we bought a whole bunch on the ship," the axe-wielding lord asked the bumbling merchant. The older man smiled weakly.

"Mark said that he didn't know how long we'd be on the Isle, so he put everyone in pairs or groups of three and told them to share," he explained, "Serra and Priscilla are circling around to everyone and healing them to try and conserve what healing salves we have."

Hector sighed, "And I thought Ostia was frugal. This is just ridiculous. I'm sure Oswin is rubbing off on Mark."

Florina's eyes were wide and her face expressionless. It was bad enough that he insisted on her fighting beside Hector, but now Mark wanted her to share a vulnerary with him? Sure she had shared her vulneraries with Lyn all the time, even with her sisters back when they were together, but share with _Hector?_ Oh Serra was going to get a kick out of this. The cleric seemed to have crazy ideas of Florina liking the blue haired lord. It wasn't true! So why did Serra keep pushing the thought?

'It's probably because she realized that it bothers me,' Florina thought. She had more important things to do right now, like get ready for the battle, and work really, really hard on not getting injured. That shouldn't be too difficult…she had gotten pretty fast as of late. The pegasus knight drew a ragged breath. She could do this.

"Oh, Florina!" a delightfully shrill voice called. Florina winced, Serra was headed her way. This day couldn't get any worse…

"Hello Serra," Florina managed to say politely to the bouncy cleric.

"I can hardly believe all this! I work hard enough as it is, and now Mark wants me to work even harder?" Serra cried. Florina felt her face flushing a little, Serra was drawing attention to herself again and she happened to be the poor victim she was talking to.

"The nerve! I mean obviously this is Lord Hector's doing, _he's_ the cheapskate around here!" she continued. Florina wished she could die, or at least be conveniently sucked up into the ground. There was no way Lord Hector couldn't have heard that. Sure enough, Hector came marching up to her, no doubt a little perturbed.

"What's the meaning of all this?" he boomed. Serra turned to him and gave him a slighting glance.

"I'm just a bit upset because I have to work myself to the bone simply because of _you_," the cleric stated. Hector's eyes narrowed.

"Hey, it wasn't _my_ idea to conserve the healing salves! If were up to me this wouldn't happen! And it's about time you stopped prancing around and actually _do_ the job we asked you to do!" he snapped.

Serra put her hands on her hips, "Are you saying I don't work? Why just the other day, I was helping my dear Florina here from an axe wound, wasn't I Florina?"

Florina's face went completely white. Why was she dragging her into this?

"Wasn't I, Florina?" the cleric repeated.

"Eh…? Oh…yes, yes she was…" Florina managed to stammer. Serra had a triumphant grin on her face.

"See? I am doing my job. Whereas, you aren't doing yours," the pink haired girl continued. That really got the young lord angry. Florina slowly backed Huey away from the quarreling pair. Hector was scary when angered, and Serra was only fueling the fire.

"What do you mean, I'm not doing my job?" he inquired through a clenched jaw. Florina finally was a good enough distance to take to the sky and land somewhere far off. There was no way she was going to be dragged into that mess. Serra on the other hand, had different plans.

"Well, Florina keeps on getting hurt by axe wielders," Serra began, "It's _your_ job to defend her from them, right? The dear is so poorly defended, I do believe she thinks you're doing it on purpose. Who knew you could be so slipshod about your duties? Just because she's a vassal doesn't mean you can just ignore Mark's orders about protecting her!"

Hector stared the cleric down, and she did likewise. Finally after a few moments, he smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"All right, Serra, just this once I'll give in," he said, "I won't 'shirk' my duties anymore. In fact I'll do such an impressive job of defending this girl, that even Oswin will be amazed. You'll see."

With that he walked away muttering angrily to himself. Serra could barely keep her grin from spreading across her face. Now he'd never leave the pegasus knight alone, at least not on the battle field. The cleric sauntered away. She could always use a good laugh and those two certainly would deliver. Ah yes, this quest would prove to be interesting.

* * *

The battle began slowly. Matthew had willingly volunteered to be put into battle, despite the protests on both Mark and Hector's parts. Florina and Hector were close to the front of the pack and stayed behind Matthew and Mark as they pushed forward. Florina managed to stay out of harm's way and take out a few pesky mages.

Mark gave Hector a torch and told him and Florina to stay in one spot for a while. Florina couldn't imagine why. Maybe it had something to do with what Hannah, the augury lady had told him. Needless to say, she and Hector were in a fortress waiting until Mark gave the signal to go. The pegasus knight naturally kept quiet, but Hector was obviously trying to make small talk.

"So…have you had that pegasus for a while?" he asked. Florina's face paled, and she knew it would be rude not to answer, however, when she tried to speak, her voice froze in her throat. Despite this she managed to nod and Hector did like wise.

"Is anyone else in your family pegasus knights?" the young lord inquired. Florina's face started to turn red. Why was he asking her all these questions suddenly? Florina didn't want to turn Serra into a scapegoat for all her troubles, but she had a feeling it might have something to do with the loud mouthed cleric.

"Are you all right? You don't look well at all," Hector said, concern crossing his features. Florina nodded furiously. She really was fine…for the most part… Despite her silent assurances of her well being, the Ostian lord came to her side for a closer look, only adding to the girl's discomfort and drastic change in palor.

"You really should talk to one of the healers if you're getting sick," he suggested. Florina sighed; she was the one who really should be worried about him. Hector was of noble blood, and what was she? A timid, little pegasus knight. Why couldn't she be more like Lyn? Or one of her own sisters, even? She looked up at the sky, what were her sisters doing now?

As if to answer her question a pegasus flew directly overhead. Hector was instantly up in arms.

"That's not one of our units!" he said getting his axe out. Florina was ready for a confrontation as well, but she had a sneaking suspicion that she had no reason to attack. Just to be sure it was who she thought it was, she flew ahead of Lord Hector, knowing that she could get to the strange pegasus knight before he did. As she got closer she realized that the pegasus knight was no stranger to her.

"Fiora!" the lavender haired girl called. The woman turned in her direction.

"Florina?" Fiora asked as the younger girl landed next to her, "W-what are you doing here?"

"I'm here with Lady Lyndis as she accompanies Lord Hector and Eliwood in saving Lord Eliwood's father," she answered, "What about you, sister, why are you here?"

"I was sent to chase down some Black Fang members with my unit…" she began, "We were attacked on the way here…I am the only survivor…"

Florina gasped. Of all the things to happen to her sister, why did it have to be that? The young girl's eyes welled up with tears despite herself.

"Oh, Florina…I shouldn't have told you," Fiora said patting her little sister's shoulder as the girl began to cry.

"I'm sorry…" the Florina said, "Fiora…you shouldn't fight the Black Fang alone. Fight with us! Fight alongside me, just like old times!"

Fiora bit her lip, "I don't know…"

Lord Hector came up to the two of them finally. Florina's face paled, she had ignored Mark's order to stay with the axe wielding lord. She hoped Hector wasn't too mad.

"I'm going to assume you know this woman, Florina," he said. Fiora gazed at him curiously.

"I'm Florina's sister. I was wondering if it was all right if I fought along side you all," she explained. Hector shrugged his shoulders.

"Why not? The tactician will give you your orders shortly," the lord told the older pegasus knight. Fiora nodded and focused her attention on the battle at hand. Florina certainly was happy her sister was there, but just because of that she couldn't forget her assignment: protect Lord Hector. The battle progressed very quickly, Mark really didn't waste much time in finishing the battle quickly. He wasn't focused on getting every person creeping in the fog, he was more focused in getting to Uhai, and fast. While Oswin and Kent drew Uhai's arrow fire, Lyn took down the Nomad Trooper with her longsword.

Once he was defeated, the Sacaean man told them the directions to the Dragon's Gate and sent them on their way. Once they were headed in the right direction, Fiora and Florina had some time to catch up on events that had happened. Florina was careful not to let on how miserable she had been during the past few days. Fiora was the last person she needed to have on her case. Her older sister was a bit overprotective, and the lavender haired girl knew she had every right and reason to be, but Florina needed to learn how to do things for herself. Fiora was going on about how skilled a pegasus knight her younger sister was becoming.

"There's just one thing I don't understand," the older girl said tapping her chin thoughtfully, "Why on earth would your tactician put you with such a reckless person as Lord Hector?"

Florina wasn't sure why, but she felt her face pale. This could lead to trouble. She didn't want Hector mad at her sister, in fact, she didn't really want to see Hector mad at all.

"I'll have to have a good talk with this Mark person," she said, "I don't doubt his abilities, I just think they're a bit…"

"Unconventional?" Florina finished. Fiora smiled and nodded. Florina giggled a little. Her sister was always a stickler for efficiency and precision. The lavender haired girl heard rather indiscreet, "ahem," from behind her. She knew very well who it was, and she wasn't too eager to turn around to talk. Fiora, having no idea what she was getting herself into, smiled and waved politely. Serra smiled and clasped her hands together.

"Excuse me, for interrupting, but I feel I simply _must_ inquire!" Serra said, "Is this new recruit your sister, Florina?"

Florina smiled weakly. Serra for once wasn't intent on embarrassing her.

"Yes, this is Fiora, my oldest sister," she said softly. The cleric's grin only grew wider.

"Oh I knew it! The resemblance is simply uncanny!" she declared, "I'm Serra, the _only_ cleric Florina trusts with her well being."

Fiora smiled held out her hand to the young pigtailed cleric. Serra's eyes sparkled with mischief as she shook hands with Fiora. It went unnoticed by both pegasus knights, but the wheels were turning in that pink head of hers. As she walked away, she smirked to herself.

"Her sister, huh?" Serra said softly, "This could be interesting."

* * *

And now, to say thank you to all my reviewers!

**Dalavita**: I'll make a note of that. Thanks!

**angel white**: I'll probably revise the first chapter eventually. And Serra, I can't help but use her. She's a fun character, and since Lyn is busy with heading up the army, I could see Serra stepping in and bugging Florina and possibly helping to bring her out. But I shall say no more about Serra, lest I give away part of the plot. As far as side pairings, I haven't even chosen yet. What ever ends up working in the end.

**Heath's-No.1-Fan**: Oh, I know what a mini is, I've read Fanfiction University fics of almost every fandom I like, including this one. I actually applied to the Rekka no Ken University. I usually get out the story and do as best I can with the spelling and grammar and then revise it. In fact, I need to revise one of my older stories.

**Mashou no Tenshi**: Ninian? Why yes, I love the girl too much not to put her in there.

**Lzn64**: Oh yes, I did read your review for Mike Nabata's remix. I did like it, it's on my computer still. It's part of the "mood music" playlist I have when I work on this story. I can't talk about how much I love my Serra. She's just fun. And Hector riding Huey with Florina won't happen for a while. Quite a while.

**Chibiheart**: Serra is fun to write. And I'm still not sure who I'm going to choose for Lyn. But Lyn's not the main focus of the story anyway.

**Hamano Ayumi**: I updated, I updated!

**Wandering Cat**: Oh I started reading "Demons of Sacae" and it was so good! And then it kinda died. I was so upset…I'll try to finish this one! I'm so in love with this story right now.

**Lord of swords and waffles**: I'm not sure what the other parings will be yet. But I can tell you that I aim to get to a point after the game. Possibly even the epilogue.

**TheOneAndOnlyT**: I'm so glad you liked it. Florina is going to change. And Serra is going to help her. But I'm not going to say much more. :)


	4. Standing at the Gate

It's here! It's here! I'm not dead! I swear!

Finding Fiora turns out to be both a blessing for Florina and a curse for Hector. But it's loads of fun for Serra. That's all I can say.

Hector needs a chapter. At least one chapter.

* * *

**Chapter Four: Standing at the Gate**

Theere they were on the Dread Isle, and they were so close to saving Lord Elbert, Hector could taste it. However, he couldn't shake this dark foreboding feeling he had. Something bad was going to happen. To top it off, ever since he started this whole adventure, he couldn't help but feel as though someone was watching him and wanted him dead. Maybe it was Serra, she certainly was annoying him to the point of death.

Mark seemed insistent on conserving the vulneraries despite everyone's protest, and Oswin was backing him up on his arguments. This meant Serra had to actually do work in helping to keep the army unharmed, which in turn meant she simply had to complain about it. The young cleric wouldn't stop babbling, even after their first battle was long over, and she always managed to corner some poor victim and make them hear her out. Usually the hardest hit by her incessant chatter would be Erk or Oswin, but lately she seemed to enjoy rattling off to Florina.

Hector knew Florina wasn't the sociable type, and he kind of felt bad for her, getting stuck with someone like Serra constantly hovering around. In fact, Florina didn't seem to like to talk to anyone really, outside of her sister and Lyndis. She even seemed to be a little afraid of him, although he couldn't for the life of him imagine why. He couldn't really dwell on such things now; he had to worry about getting to the Dragon's Gate. They had gotten past the power hungry sage Aion, and Hector was determined to take down Darin. Mark had personally reserved this fight for him, and he was more than eager to go into battle.

The only thing that could get in the way of his excitement was the prospect of working with Florina's sister. Fiora, while an excellent warrior and respectable in every way, simply didn't seem to get enough chances to correct him. All throughout the fight all he heard was, "Watch for those archers there," and "Guard Florina's right side over here," and "Watch where you're swinging that axe, Lord Hector, you could have hurt someone!" Hector was starting to feel that if Oswin were younger and female, he probably would have been Fiora. The woman was almost insufferable.

He sighed a little. He was going to show all these nit-picky sticklers. The young lord was determined to become such a brilliant warrior, that they all would be impressed. As long as he could help it, no one was going to get that little pegasus knight.

His thoughts were interrupted by a light laugh. Eliwood was behind him, a knowing grin spread across his face.

"It seems your 'look of conviction' has come back to haunt us," the red haired lord teased, "You haven't looked this determined since you decided to teach yourself how to use an axe instead of a sword back in school."

Hector smirked in response. Eliwood had a way of bringing up old memories.

"You know what's bothering me. That woman has to peck at every mistake I make throughout the entire battle," the blue haired lord said, annoyance hanging on his words. Eliwood shook his head half heartedly.

"Fiora's only looking out for Florina, the same way Uther looks out for you," Eliwood replied, "It must be some sort of older sibling complex."

Hector rolled his eyes, "I understand that, but does she _have_ to criticize my every move! I couldn't even breathe without getting yelled at!"

The red haired lord clapped Hector's shoulder in reassurance.

"You'll wow them all, Hector. You'll gain the respect of all those around you. I have faith in you," Eliwood told his friend. Hector smiled and nodded thoughtfully.

"There's just one more thing that's bothering me…" he said.

"Oh?" Eliwood said raising his eyebrows in curiosity, "What seems to be the trouble?"

"I can't seem to get Florina to even really acknowledge me," the axe wielding lord stated in a defeated tone, "I mean since we're supposed to be working together for the most part, I kind of want to know more about her, and she won't even speak to me! Can you imagine that?"

Eliwood raised an eyebrow and tried to suppress a grin.

"No, I couldn't possibly imagine why!" he said in a playful tone. Hector narrowed his eyes.

"You know something about this, don't you?" he asked. Eliwood smirked a little and shook his head.

"Maybe you should ask Lyn about this, hm? She is Florina's friend after all," he suggested. Hector rolled his eyes a little.

"You get off the hook this time around, but I'll be coming back to you!" the blue haired lord said as he walked away. Eliwood sighed, his friend was hopelessly dense when it came to tact and the more sensitive things in life.

'He'll learn eventually,' the red haired boy thought, and got ready for the fight ahead.

* * *

The fight to the Dragon's Gate was only a few minutes away, and Mark was tying up a few loose ends. Hector followed the shorter boy as he explained his battle strategy. 

"The key here is simple, we need to press toward the Gate no matter who's chasing us, or who's in our way," Mark explained, "I'm putting our power players up front, as in you, Lyn, Eliwood, Florina and Oswin up front, and our faster people in back, people like Guy, Raven, Wil and Rebecca who are quick enough to dodge and keep running. Although, I might put Marcus…"

Mark could go on like that for hours. It wasn't that Hector wasn't interested, it was just that the brown haired boy got so passionate about his tactics that his rambles got unreasonably hard to follow after a while. Mark jumped forward, and backward and sideways when he talked and the blue haired lord was used to talking straight forwardly. Hector just started to assume that geniuses worked this way and the more confusing Mark's rambles got the better.

"So…I won't be working with Fiora, right?" Hector said a bit hopefully, interrupting Mark's cryptic monologue. The brown haired boy turned abruptly, a little thrown off by the interjection.

"Of course you will be," the tactician said, "Why wouldn't you be? Florina needs a little more back up, and they work well together."

"What? Are you saying I wasn't enough back up for her?" Hector asked a little miffed at the implications. Mark waved his hands defensively.

"No, no! That's not it! I mean, it's as much for Florina, as it is for you!" the tactician explained, "I have other jobs for Oswin to do, and Fiora is an experienced fighter. You need to have some guidance, and she's the best choice."

'I knew it there was a reason Fiora reminded me of Oswin…' Hector thought, his face unsuccessfully masking his annoyance with the whole situation.

"Is something wrong with you and Fiora?" Mark inquired.

"No, not at all…" Hector lied. Mark continued ahead, adding more details to his strategy as they went on. Just then Hector had a feeling of dread come over him. That could only mean one thing. Serra was near by. The blue haired lord turned cautiously. Sure enough, the cleric was right behind him. Fortunately, she seemed more intent on her conversation, than with him. Who was she talking to anyway? He hoped she hadn't cornered Florina again. Hector turned a bit more just to see who it was.

It was his worst nightmare. Serra was talking to Fiora. From the way Fiora was glancing at him, he could tell what Serra was saying wasn't good. Now he was worried. What in Emiline's name was she saying?

"Mark, I'm going to get into position," Hector said. Mark nodded and continued with the battle preparations. Hector was focused on the two chatting women.

'Now the direct approach,' he thought. He walked past Fiora and Serra hoping to catch a snippet of their conversation. However, like typical girls, they stopped mid-sentence just as he passed, and Hector would have sworn that Fiora gave him a look of sudden death. He gulped unconsciously. Women were a bit scary when they gave looks like that. That wasn't very successful. How could he find out what they were saying if he couldn't get in any closer?

"Hector?" a female voice said suddenly. The lord turned in surprise. It was Lyn.

'Perfect!' he thought, a smirk suddenly appearing on his face. Lyn, obviously confused by his reaction, blinked a few times before continuing with what she had to say.

"Eliwood said you had something to ask me," she said, "What is it?"

"Yes, will you do me a favor?" the blue haired lord asked. The Sacean girl raised an eyebrow.

"It depends on what it is…" she replied. Hector grabbed her shoulders and turned her in the direction of Fiora and Serra.

"Will you find out what Serra is talking about?" he asked.

"Why do you…?" Lyn began.

"Never mind about that right now!" Hector interjected, "Please, would you mind controlling that woman! I don't have the patience!"

An indignant look spread across Lyn's usually serene features. She narrowed her eyes and brushed his hands from off her shoulders.

"All right," she said going toward the two of them. Hector disappeared into a nearby tent. Unfortunately, someone was in it. Fortunately, it was only Lucius, and he was saved the indignity of being found in a woman's tent.

"Lord Hector? What are you doing in here?" Lucius asked.

"Oh, um…" Hector began. He just couldn't catch a break today.

"Watching the ladies in a more covert way, perhaps?" Lucius said peeking out the tent flaps at the group of girls, "My, that Serra is a lively one. Although she does seem to be very annoyed with me, and I can't seem to figure out why…"

Hector sighed, whether in relief or frustration, he didn't know. What he did know was that maybe, he had found an ally in this monk.

"So you're on Serra's black list too, huh?" the Ostian lord said. Lucius turned and smiled a little.

"If that's what you call it, then yes, I guess I am," the blonde monk replied, "She does say some awful things about me, especially while I'm within earshot. But then again, she says some awful things about a lot of people."

Hector hit the jackpot there, "Like who?"

"Oh, everybody!" the blonde replied, closing the tent flaps, "Oswin, Priscilla, Erk, you, Matthew…"

"What does she say about me?" the lord pried. He was so close…

"Well—"

The entrance to the tent flew open, revealing a very perturbed Serra.

"There you are! I thought you only trusted _me_ with your prayers to Saint Emiline!" the pink haired cleric snapped, "How dare you trust _her_ over me!"

Hector raised an eyebrow, "_Her?_"

Serra stamped her foot, "Yes, her!"

Hector shot Lucius a confused glance. Sure he was very androgynous, but certainly after all this time, Serra must have realized that Lucius was a monk, therefore he _had_ to be male. Before Lucius could say anything, the cleric brusquely grabbed the blue haired lord's arm and dragged him out of the tent.

"You'd better hurry up!" she cried, "The battle is going to start soon and poor Florina is up there all by herself! No wonder Fiora doesn't trust you with her sister's safety!"

"Who says she doesn't!" Hector cried.

"She told me herself!" Serra snapped back, "She says your guard is slipshod, your defense is off, and your timing is even worse!"

That did it. Hector was going to defeat Darin, he was going take down everything in his path, and Florina would not be so much as grazed by a single arrow, sword, axe or otherwise. He was going to protect her if it was the last thing he did.

Hector wrenched his arm from Serra's grasp, his eyes narrowed in determination. Serra huffed angrily as he stormed off. As soon as he was out of hearing range, a smirk spread across her face. A few moments later, Fiora stood at Serra's side her arms crossed, her face in decided calculation.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" the older girl asked, "He might do more harm than good, and I'd only be adding to the fire."

"No, do just like you did in the last battle, trust me on this," the cleric said.

"I'm not sure I trust you on anything just yet," Fiora said staring the cleric down. Serra turned to meet her gaze with an equally intense look.

"You will find that you can trust me. I promise you that," she replied with a look of confidence.

* * *

Mark's tactics had never steered wrong before, and it was still true even now. Hector's forces easily barreled through Darin's Black Fang soldiers. Lyn, Matthew and Sain had been given the assignment of apprehending a thief, while Eliwood, Kent and Marcus led part of the army through an indoor route. 

Hector felt exhilarated in battle, but he always kept his eye on Florina, who was by his side as usual. Fiora was still criticizing his every move, but she seemed more intent on correcting Florina than him. Florina responded better to her sister's instruction than he did anyway. The lavender haired girl didn't say much, but her strikes were becoming more and more powerful.

Hector wished he had time to watch Florina's improvement, but he had to make sure she stayed alive to continue her growth as a warrior. He pressed ahead, the pegasus sisters behind him. As he came to the entrance to the Dragon's gate, Hector felt the anticipation of the battle ahead fill him with excitement. It was cut short by a knight riding in front of him.

"So, you're Lord Hector?" he said, "Darin's been so worried about you coming, I almost thought you were a threat to our cause. But I see you're not."

Hector readied his Wolf Biel for a fight, but before he could make a move, a javelin came sailing through the air and landed in the knight's left side.

"Nice shot, Florina!" Fiora said. Eliwood's part of the army came from around the bend just in time. Kent came riding up behind the knight and plunged his lance into the man's left arm. Fiora motioned for Hector to go on.

"Go! Take Florina with you!" she cried. The lord nodded and started to leave.

"Lord Hector!" Fiora cried. Hector turned slowly.

"If Florina gets so much as a scratch, I will have Sir Oswin make sure it never happens again," the older pegasus knight warned. The blue haired lord nodded in understanding. He could picture it now: two hundred push ups, full armor, in the blazing sun, while Oswin rested his feet on his back with a good book. Delightful.

Florina was already a good distance ahead, so he had to catch up. She was right behind him as they entered. The two of them made short work of the guards and Hector eagerly turned his attention to Darin.

"So it comes to this, eh, Lord Darin?" the young lord said a smirk playing on his lips.

"I don't have time to play games, boy," the older man boomed, "I'm going to rule all of Lycia, no, all of the world!"

"Right…look, I'm ready for a fight whenever you are!" Hector snapped. Darin smiled a bit too widely for the younger lord's comfort. The older lord readied his hand axe and Hector was ready to dodge his blow. Darin hurled his hand axe through the air. Hector realized that it wasn't aimed at him at all, it was headed slightly to Hector's left which could only mean…

"Florina! Look out!" he cried. The girl was instantly on the defensive, but just in case her defense wasn't enough, Hector was in front of the swirling blades first. The axe slashed across his side viciously before it rounded back to Darin's grasp. Florina gasped in horror as Hector gripped his side in pain.

'That hurt more than it should have…' Hector thought. Florina handed him the vulnerary they had been given. Without another word she flew forward, that same fiery look in her eyes as she had before when they first fought together. He knew her attacks wouldn't do much, but they'd keep Darin distracted long enough so that Hector could heal a little.

Darin had a few jabs at her, but Florina was quick enough to stay out of his reach. Hector was impressed by her speed, she dodged his attacks with extreme ease. She doubled back to his side as he downed part of the vulnerary and stood up finally.

"All right Darin, no more low blows like that," Hector said putting his Wolf Biel on his shoulder, "If you're going to fight me…"

With one fatal swoop, his axe pierced Darin's armor and flesh easily. The young lord pulled his weapon from the carnage and thumbed his nose in defiance.

"Like I was saying, if you're going to fight me, then fight _me_," he said in a dangerously low tone. Eliwood entered the room as Darin was uttering his final words.

"Great job, Hector! I saw the whole thing!" Eliwood said, "Mark refused to let me in until you finished Darin, and I am just amazed!"

"Thanks, that means a lot to me," Hector said with a grin. As everyone poured into the throne room and Eliwood waited expectantly at the foot of the stairs to the Dragon's Gate, Mark approached Hector.

"Good fight, my lord," the tactician said.

"Hector. Call me _Hector_, please," the blue haired boy corrected. Mark waved the last statement aside.

"I want the three of you to meet me at the steps of the Dragon's Gate in five minutes, all right?" the tactician said. Hector nodded and went off to find Lyn and Eliwood. When he found them, they seemed engaged in an enthralling conversation. Hector approached the two of them, and told them of Mark's instructions.

"Okay then, see you both in five minutes," Lyn said leaving the company of the two lords. Hector raised an eyebrow.

"What's her hurry?" he asked Eliwood.

The red haired boy smiled knowingly but replied, "No clue."

Hector narrowed his eyes a little, "You have this habit of dodging my questions. Since we have a much more important matter to attend to right now, I'll let you slide. But after we save your father, you will tell me what the hell is going on around here."

Together they went to the designated meeting spot, ready to claim another victory.

Or so they thought.

* * *

**:Edit (8/25/05): **I did change some wording and the ending slightly. Oh yeah, and I changed the chapter name. Hopefully it will be a little more believable. 

If you want to know why it took so long to post this chapter, I shall say:

-Studying for AP testing

-The actual AP test

-SATs

-Pre-calculus

-Studying for finals

-The actual finals

-Getting _Fire Emblem: Sacred Stones_

And that's about it.

Thank you:

**Lord of swords and waffles: ** Heehee! Fiora is so much fun! And Serra has a secret plan, that is…well not really a secret except to the people she's scheming about. And us right now.

**TheOneAndOnlyT:** I told myself I could not review your Joshua/Natasha story until I finished this chapter and it worked! I'm finished, and as soon as this is up, I'm reviewing. Hector does care for Florina, and this chapter has Mark encouraging him to explore the reasons he wants to protect her (beyond his duty that is…). And you know…I almost hate it when you're right about what I did wrong. I have this "Oh, yeah…he's right…" moment when I read your reviews. But I do make note of them, I do! I try!

**Nightmare:** Yes, the plan is to continue until Nergal's defeat and perhaps an epilogue. Hector and Florina's relationship has so much more potential beyond the boundaries of the support conversations. I'm still a bit unsure about the other pairings, but if you came here for Hector/Florina, you'll definitely be pleased. Thank you for reading!

**Hamano Ayumi: **I still don't know…but one thing's for sure, Fiora will _not_ steal Hector away:)

**ChibiHeart:** Wow! Kent sure gets a lot of love here! Everybody wants Fiora with Kent! I'm not making any promises…but how about a maybe?

**Jasmine Reinier: **Oh my! I hope I didn't kill you with my super long gap between updates! It wasn't on purpose, I swear!

**Mashou no Tenshi: **Serra's torture knows no bounds. However, in terms of torture, she gets more of a kick with Hector because he reacts more than Florina. Yes, hopefully if it all works out, there will be Florina and Serra support conversations in this fic.

**Erin: **Oh, I'm so happy to hear people say things like that! I love you!


	5. Princess in Training

**:Note:** I changed last chapter slightly. It shouldn't be too much of a dramatic change in the plot but, there's a change in one character's opinion of another. If you want to go back and re-read it, you may!

Haha, I know you all hate me. Don't hate me, hate my job, my school, _Tales of Symphonia_ and National Novel Writer's Month.

On with the story!

* * *

**Chapter Five: Princess in Training**

They had failed. Or at least, Florina knew that was how Hector felt. He had promised his friend they'd save Lord Elbert and it didn't happen and he was in an awful mood. Eliwood was distraught as they rode home, refusing to let go of his deceased father's hand, but she knew one person who felt worse. Ninian. It was because Nergal exploited her power that Lord Elbert died, and Florina knew that she was feeling down. Florina leaned on the side of the ship looking at the water, allowing the wind blow her hair which ever way it felt.

'Why, when everyone is so distraught, can I only sit here by myself and fear them all?' Florina thought sadly. She stopped glowering at the ocean finally, and turned to see the goings on of the ship. It seemed like any other day, sailors were scurrying back and forth, she knew Mark was talking with Hector and Lyn below decks, and the other members of the army were conversing among each other. Now, however, it seemed as though a pall had been cast over everything. Things continued on, but death seemed to stick to everyone like a shadow.

Florina sighed and was about to head down below when she heard the familiar sound of a flute. Nils was there, playing a tune to lift the spirits of the crew. The lavender haired girl stopped to look at him for a few minutes. It seemed that in one year, he had matured considerably. Florina could only imagine what he had to have gone through. Yet even in this dark hour, the shorter boy played his flute. He had courage to endure under the circumstances and wished to spread the strength around.

'If only I had courage to share,' she mused as she started to head below decks. She had only descended halfway down the stairs when she heard a familiar voice at the bottom of the stair case. It was Lord Hector. Wanting to get out of the way quickly she turned to run up the stairs. What resulted was a little less than graceful as she tripped up the stairs and bit her tongue.

"Are you all right?" Hector asked coming to her side. Florina held her mouth in her gloved hands and didn't respond, not that she would have been able to anyway. The blue haired lord helped her to her feet.

"At least you can stand," he said. He raised an eyebrow as he realized she had her hands cupped around her mouth. The lord smirked a little, "Don't tell me you bit your tongue."

She gazed up at him silently, her face already turning a bright pink.

Hector sighed, "Open your mouth, and let's see the damage."

Florina obliged, although she could feel her cheeks rouging even more, if that was even possible. She hoped that Saint Emiline would be kind this day and not let Fiora walk in on this scene.

"It doesn't look too good, I'd better take you to Serra," he said. Florina's eyes widened. Not Serra. Any other cleric but Serra. Lord Hector started to leave and Florina stood completely motionless. He reached the top of the stair case and turned to her.

"Are you coming or not?" he asked. Florina didn't answer. Hector sighed and went back down to where she was standing and grabbed her by the arm. Florina knew her face was most likely a bright red by now. Fortunately, she could hide most of her blush by covering her mouth, which was bleeding pretty badly.

"Come on, Serra's not that scary," he said.

'You have no idea,' Florina thought, although she wasn't sure if being with him was causing her more discomfort. When they came to the top deck, Nils was still playing his flute and Florina remembered how she wished she had courage like him to bear up under any circumstance. Well, here she was at Lord Hector's side she could show a little spine and try to talk to him right?

"Ah…" she began. No other words would come out. Even if they did, Hector wouldn't have understood anything, her mouth was already filling up with saliva and blood. Florina silently cursed herself for trying to talk now.

"Did you say something?" Lord Hector asked. She looked up at him almost fearfully. He had heard her?

"Uh…" she tried again. It was no use. Her nerves would hardly let her talk even when her tongue wasn't bleeding, much less now.

"I guess not," he said, "You really shouldn't try to talk right now, you bit your tongue pretty hard back there."

Florina felt her face get hotter and had the Ostian lord not been dragging her along, she probably would have fallen to her knees in embarrassment. Still, having someone like Lord Hector concerned about her well being made her feel…special.

'Now Florina! Keep your mind off of such things! Lord Hector would do this for anyone,' she mused, 'You're not special to him in any way. You're just his battle partner nothing more.'

While all this may have been true, Serra's face upon seeing the two of them suggested otherwise. She was sitting on a rope coil, talking Erk's ear off when they first approached her. The cleric smirked and wagged her finger at Lord Hector.

"If I told you once, I told you a thousand times, you cannot play rough with Florina!" Serra shouted. Erk took advantage of the cleric's diverted attention and scooted away as fast as he could. Hector rolled his eyes.

"Look, she was going up the stairs and she tripped and bit her tongue," he replied. Serra got up from the rope coil and motioned for Florina to sit down. As she inspected the lavender haired girl's tongue she continued to patronize Hector.

"I'll bet you were behind her as she was going up the stairs, right?" she said in a matter of fact tone, "Trying to look up her dress, no doubt."

Florina's eyes widened in embarrassment. What on earth was Serra trying to do? The blue haired lord was obviously put out by her last statement.

"What the hell kind of accusation is that!" he snapped. Serra gave Florina some healing salve to rub on her tongue.

"I'm sure always do stuff like that," the pink haired girl continued.

"Don't confuse me with Sain! My manners may leave a lot to be desired but I'm not crude like that at all!" he shouted. Florina was in complete shock over the whole argument. Part of her was ready to run and the other part of her was completely frozen.

'Just try to tune it out and worry about your tongue,' she told herself rubbing the salve on the offending area. She was sure that today she had set the record for having the reddest face in the world. Hector finally realized that arguing with Serra was completely useless and stormed away. Serra triumphed in the wake of his frustration. She then turned to her patient and checked her tongue.

"Yep, all better. You should be more careful, Florina," she said.

"All right," the lavender haired girl replied, "Um…Serra?"

"Yes, darling?" the cleric answered. Florina knew that she needed help to overcome her fears and not from someone who'd protect her from them like Fiora and Lyn would, but someone who would thrust her out to face her fears, someone like Serra. Florina wanted to learn how to be just like her.

"Serra…how can I be more like you?" she finally asked. Serra seemed surprised by the question, but she shook off the appearance of such almost instantly.

"Well, if you mean my looks and sense of style, I'm sorry, hon, but things like that come naturally. You have to be born with it," the pink haired girl replied.

"No, your personality," Florina continued, "I want to act more like you."

"Oh…" the other girl said, "Well…just stick with me sweetheart and you'll be just like me in no time!"

* * *

Serra's lessons confused Florina. All the pink haired girl did was babble on and on about nothing for what seemed like hours and repeating the same line over and over.

"Above all else, always hold your ground against other people!" Serra instructed, "Never run, never relinquish, never compromise!"

She couldn't try and understand the pink haired cleric right now. It was too taxing on her mind. They made it to land late at night and she was ready for a rest. Or at least she thought she was. Something was keeping her awake as she lay on her back. Fiora was already asleep in the bed across from her, and Lyn was downstairs talking with Hector, Mark, Eliwood and Ninian. The lavender haired girl sighed and stared at the ceiling for a while.

She held up her right hand and gazed curiously at her calluses. Five years ago, she never would have dreamed of being in an army, on her way to being an accomplished warrior, and here she was. Florina had never once hoped to be fighting side by side with lords, and she was, she was working with the one and only Lord Hector.

Lord Hector was unlike any other man she had ever known. His very presence was frightening to her, yet somehow, he brought out the best of her abilities. Everything about him made her uneasy, yet he protected her as best he could. Her thoughts went to the earlier events of the day. Hector had personally escorted her to Serra's side when he honestly didn't have to. She blushed simply of the thought of Hector being thoughtful toward her.

Florina shook her head. She had to shake this feeling! Lord Hector was simply being thoughtful and nothing more. Despite the fact that she seemed highly ungrateful for not thanking him for saving her life, he had offered her a kind gesture. The lavender haired girl got up from her bed and headed downstairs. She had to get to the stables, and she had to talk to Huey. She knew he couldn't talk back, but venting to her Pegasus always made her feel better, and he always seemed to understand.

The winged horse was awake, as though he expected her to come eventually. Florina smiled and climbed on one of the low walls of Huey's stall. The Pegasus lay its white head on her lap. She went on to relate the goings on of the day, mentioning how Hector had helped her, how she had told herself not to read too much into any of his actions.

"Oh, but Huey, what does it mean?" she asked Huey, "Why do I want it to mean more than it seems?"

The winged horse nickered a little and nudged her arm.

"No…" she whispered, "I don't like him like that. It would give Serra too much satisfaction…"

Huey snorted a little and Florina laughed.

"It's not true, silly!" the lavender haired girl told him.

"What's not true?" a voice asked. Florina turned to the source. Lyn was standing in the door way.

"I was wondering where you were," the Sacaean girl said walking toward her, "I found out something that might interest you."

"What is it?" Florina asked, swinging her legs over the stall and onto the ground.

"Well, I was talking to Ninian on the way here…" Lyn began, "She's from Ilia, just like you."

Florina's face brightened, "Really?"

"Yes," Lyndis continued, "And she seems terribly depressed. I couldn't think of anyone better to cheer her up than you, someone to talk about her home with."

Florina felt a little afraid at the prospect, but she told Lyndis she would do her best. She had always wanted to talk to Ninian but never really got the chance. Now it was practically offered to her, and she was scared.

'Come on, Florina,' she coached herself, 'what's the worst Ninian could do?'

The two of them exited the stable only to have Hector run toward them.

"What's the matter, Hector?" Lyn inquired of him.

"We're surrounded by troops," he answered, "Mark says to prepare for battle."

"Then prepare we shall," Lyn answered. Florina was already mounting Huey up for battle. Mark assigned Eliwood and Hector to work together with Florina as back up. Florina sighed uneasily. Working with just one man was enough, now two? Was Mark trying to kill her? As the battle was poised to begin, Ninian ran out to Lord Eliwood's side. She convinced him to let her stay in the fray, showing that she had regenerative powers, like Nils. Mark nodded upon being informed of the changes in his ranks.

"Okay, new plan, the three of you cover for Ninian," the tactician instructed, "It's her first battle, and she's got a useful power and we're going to use it to the full."

As Serra and Lucius made their way around town with a torch to warn civilians of the danger, Matthew led the way through the darkness, warning the others of the enemies wielding weapons laced with poison. Florina glanced down at the dancer as she followed Eliwood closely.

"Be sure to watch your step, Miss Ninian, I'd rather you not get hurt," the Pegasus knight informed the young lady.

"Ah…thank you…Dame Florina," Ninian replied softly. Florina wrinkled her nose a little. Dame Florina…it had a strange sound to it.

"You don't have to call me that. Just Florina will do fine," the lavender haired girl said as she lowered Huey closer to the ground.

"Uh…Yes…Florina. Lady Lyndis says that you're from Ilia," Ninian said. Florina nodded.

"Yes I am," Florina said, "Lyn told me that you were from Ilia as well."

Ninian smiled, "I haven't been there in quite a few years…"

"What do you remember about it?" Florina asked.

Ninian bit her lip in thought, "I can't really remember names of places, but there were lots of mountains covered with snow…they were so lovely."

Florina grinned, "You know, when I found out that you were from Ilia, I felt a lot closer to you somehow. We should talk more."

"I would like that," Ninian told the Pegasus knight. The two chatted a bit as the battle permitted. Florina was glad to have found a new friend, one that seemed extremely tame when compared to Serra. Speaking of whom, the girl realized she hadn't heard from the cleric throughout the entire battle. It was a nice change of pace, she decided and thought nothing more of it.

"All right, Mark said that he wants Eliwood to take on Oleg," Hector told the other three with him, "You girls stay back, and I'll be in just enough distance to cover him if he needs help."

"Mark's tactical thinking is rubbing off on you, eh?" Eliwood said as he started toward Oleg. Hector snorted and swung his axe over his shoulder. He was with in eye shot and Florina and Ninian had some time to rest as the battle was starting to wind down.

"So, how do you like being in an army so far?" the Pegasus knight asked. Ninian sighed.

"I've never had to dance so much in one hour!" she said, "I've spun around so many times, I'm a little dizzy…"

"Here, climb on my Pegasus. Huey likes girls, you should be fine," Florina suggested. The dancer nodded and Florina helped her onto Huey's back. Matthew was headed their way.

"Watch out," he warned, "There's a wyvern rider on the way, and he's got a poison lance."

Florina nodded and was instantly on the defensive.

"I gave Hector the Wyrmslayer I found, since I can't use it," the thief said.

"What good will that do?" Ninian asked, "He uses only axes, right?"

Matthew smirked, "Hector won't talk about it, but he's pretty all right with swords. Enough to defend you two ladies should the need arise."

With that he sauntered off. Florina glanced up ahead. There was Hector, the blade in hand, and there was the wyvern.

"Why isn't he moving?" the Pegasus knight wondered out loud. She didn't have time to mull over the situation, instead, she reached down for her javelin. A few well placed hits rendered the rider weak, but he was gathering speed for a charge.

"Ninian, I want you to get off and run into the armory," Florina instructed. The dancer did as she was told and scampered off. The girl took to the skies easily and the wyvern followed suit. Florina was trying to be sure not to get hit, lest she get poisoned. The rider and his mount were much faster than she anticipated, she was having trouble keeping his jabs from coming dangerously close to their mark.

"Florina! You can do it!" Lyn shouted from below. The Pegasus knight didn't hear her cries, she was focused on the rider.

'Why aren't Wil and Rebecca taking him down with the ballistas?' she wondered. He saw the pause in her movements, and took the opportunity he was given. The spear did no real damage from the actual blow, but Florina could already feel a fever setting in. Florina's attacks grew wild, slow and lazy and her vision wasn't quite in focus.

"Hold still, Florina!" a voice called. She knew that she recognized it from somewhere, but it escaped her just who it was. The lavender haired girl was too feverish to really care at that point anyway. Huey lowered himself closer to the ground and the wyvern rider moved in for the final strike. However, Florina was blissfully trapped in a delirious dream. The screeching of the wyvern was wonderfully terrible, her eyes were fixated on the glistening point of the poison lance.

Then the creature's head came off. A floating axe had cut it clean off and sent blood spatters all over Florina's paling and glassy eyed face. Who was the wielder of such an amazing weapon with a mind of its own? She watched as it floated back to its owner. Lord Hector, he was the owner of the floating axe. Florina suddenly felt as though her head was far too heavy for her neck to hold up. She let it flop ungracefully into Huey's mane.

"A floating axe…It almost makes up for him not being able to use that sword…" the lavender haired girl mumbled. Hector was running toward her, and she was too tired to move, to tell him that she was quite all right and the purple spots that danced before her eyes would be gone in a few minutes. Spirals of light were every where as the battle came to a close. She was focused on them as they lit up the dark town. The town seemed…strange all of a sudden…

What was happening? Was the world turning sideways? Who knew? All she did know was that the last thing she saw was Lord Hector's profile in the moonlight.

* * *

No, it simply couldn't be true. When Serra told Florina what had happened, she didn't believe it, but when Lyn, Fiora _and_ Ninian told her about it the lavender haired girl simply decided it had to be. After she collapsed in battle, Lord Hector carried her all the way to the infirmary so Serra could treat her.

"And he simply refused to leave until he saw that you would be okay," Serra added to the other girls' accounts of what had happened, "Honestly, I've never seen such a dedicated battle partner!"

Florina blushed a little, "No, no Serra, it's not like that at all! I'm sure if you were the one poisoned he would have carried you to the in infirmary too."

Lyn snorted, "He'd leave her out to die, if I know him."

Serra stuck out her bottom lip in dejection and Ninian giggled despite herself.

"Lyyyn…" she whined, "That wasn't nice."

Fiora brushed back Florina's bangs gently as the dancer patted the lavender haired girl's hand.

"You never did take poison very well," she said, "I've already complained to Oswin about his student's discrepancies."

Florina's face went almost completely white.

"Y-you didn't…Please say you didn't…" the girl pleaded. Fiora smirked.

"Of course I did! He needs to learn discipline for leaving a soldier on the rocks like he did to you," she replied. Florina got up and ran outside the infirmary tent. Ninian followed her.

"Florina, Serra says that you should rest for at least another fifteen minutes!" the dancer called. Florina already had her mind set. She was going to convince Oswin that her getting injured was entirely her own fault and shift the blame from Lord Hector to herself. However, upon seeing Oswin, she changed her mind. Her will had turned from iron to jelly in a matter of seconds.

However, she had to admit seeing Hector being used as a foot rest as he did push ups was rather funny. She had to relish this moment in silence for just a few more minutes. Ninian finally caught up, panting as she placed a delicate hand on Florina's shoulder.

"Florina…you really should…" Ninian's sentence trailed off. She chuckled quietly as she watched Lord Hector do his exercises.

"Come on now, Hector," Oswin chided as Hector grunted, "Only five hundred and forty six left to go."

"Damn it Oswin! I said it would never happen again!" the young lord spat as he continued doing his push ups. Oswin raised an eyebrow as he continued reading his book.

"That's so valiant of you," the older knight said, "But it's not me you have to promise, it's our paling little violet over there."

Florina gasped as Hector glanced in her direction. Her first inclination was to run, however, something Serra had told her the other day stayed with her.

"_Never run, never relinquish, never compromise!"_

'I can at least start by not running for once,' she thought. Hector slid from underneath Oswin's boots and headed over to her. His face was sweaty and he was breathing hard as he placed his hand on her shoulder.

"How are you feeling? Are you better?" he asked. Florina already knew what was happening. Her cheeks were already flushing up. However, she nodded silently and tried to smile a little. Hector cocked his head to the side.

"I don't know, you still look a bit feverish to me…" he said, "You should go rest, all right?"

She nodded again and watched him get ready to do his push ups again.

"What number am I on?" he asked the older knight. Oswin sighed.

"I don't remember, just start over," he answered.

"What?" the Hector cried. Florina turned to leave. She didn't like seeing the blue haired lord angry. However, she did feel she had a tiny victory that day. She didn't run away from Lord Hector like she always did. One small step was better than none at all.

* * *

Gah, you all can hate me for taking so long. But after finishing a novel in a month, I feel I can do anything.

Thank you:

**Hamano Ayumi: **Hehe, thank you! Yes, I do love Sacred Stones. And now I have dun dun _Path of Radiance_! God, I seriously have no life.

**Mashou no Tenshi: **sigh If people simply have to know, yes it is Kent/Fiora, and Lyn/Rath. But I won't be shoving it down your throats, and it will only be mentioned in passing. Haha, but now EliLyn. Because it bores me for some reason…

**TheOneAndOnlyT:** I should have suckered you into National Novel Writer's Month. You would have been just as stressed out as I was, but I digress. Yes, I did change last chapter. Only because you were right, about it. winks I always look forward to your review most of all.

**Chips Dip: **Well, I didn't update soon…but I updated…

**Lonely Lord:** I don't believe in a one sided romance story. Then it feels so unfulfilled…unless you do it right…

**misSkLuTzZz: **Well…I updated…

**WildFireDreams:** I shall do just that.

**Wandering Cat:** Ehehe…Hector's not done being completely dense…

**Jessica: **Oh, I will finish! I will!

**ChibiHeart:** There will be more chapters from Hector's POV. It's quite fun to write.

**Miko-Hime:** Yes, it was History. American History. I'm so glad to be part of your C2! squees

**Jasmine Reinier:** I don't think I'll do Sain/Fiora…although that would make a rocking good one shot…thanks for the suggestion!


	6. Caution

I believe that updating this story is considered cyber necrophilia, it's been dead for more than a year. But Hector/Florina is a pairing near and dear to my heart even now. And Kitten Kisses of all people my fanfic hero reviewed my story. And I realize that I've held this chapter captive for…nearly a year and a half.

Um, most of you know that I probably won't update this consistently at all. But I really want to finish this.

* * *

**Chapter Six: Caution**

* * *

Hector couldn't quite understand it. He had such conviction that he would protect Florina, but the moment a sword was placed in his hand, he froze. He knew he could use a sword, the blade that was in his hand was hardly heavy, but he couldn't bring himself to use it. Why? It was just a simple thing to do; a single slash would have been enough. Instead, he chose to stop, to allow her to engage the enemy in battle, to let him almost kill her. She froze because she was poisoned; he froze because he chose not to act. Sure he had protected her from death's door, throwing his hand axe just in time. However, through his negligence he had allowed her come dangerously close. 

As he tried to complete the one thousand push ups he'd been forced to do all over, he pondered these things. Although he was still amazed at his appalling lack of action, the blue haired lord was curious as to why she had never spoken to him. She had tried, but the words didn't quite come out. Now at least she had a reason to avoid him, he had basically let her get poisoned. However, he noticed that she almost instantly opened up to Ninian. Granted she knew her a little from before, but didn't she remember him?

'Hey…I even saved her life once before,' he thought, 'I deserve a little recognition.'

He vaguely remembered Eliwood hinting that he knew something about a situation. When Eliwood hinted instead of telling him up front, Hector usually assumed that he was meant to figure it out himself. The red haired lord had said Lyn knew something about this situation, so Hector decided to ask her once this was over.

"Okay, you're done," Oswin said suddenly.

"What?" Hector said, "So soon?"

Oswin shrugged, "If you want more I could—"

Hector got up quickly, "No. Thank you. Good bye."

The young lord scanned the camp. Where was Lyn? He spotted her talking to another one of the girls.

'Please not Serra…' he begged. No, her hair was turquoise, not Serra. However, it _was_ Fiora. He had a sinking feeling in his stomach as he approached the seated pair.

"Well if it isn't Lord Hector? Well met," Fiora said brightly. A little too brightly for his taste.

"Um…Well met, Fiora," Hector answered, "I need to talk to Lyn if you don't mind…"

"Oh, all right," she said. When she didn't move, Hector coughed a little.

"What is it?" Fiora asked.

"I…need to talk to Lyn alone," he said. Fiora nodded.

"Oh, I see. I don't want to get in the middle of a lover's spat," she said. Hector rolled his eyes.

"It's not a lover's spat…" he growled.

"Then I can stay," Fiora said tossing her hair. Hector's eye twitched. What was with women and hating him all of a sudden?

"Sure, of course you can," he said, "It's about your little sister anyway."

Fiora smiled placidly, "What about her?"

"What does Florina have against me?" he asked, "Why won't she talk to me? At least say 'hello' or something?"

"Well, you scare her," was Lyn's blunt reply.

"What am _I _going to do to her? Chop her head of with my axe?" Hector said jokingly.

"You almost do half of the time," Fiora answered, "And it's not just you that scares her. She has issues with men."

"What does she hate them or something?" he asked. Lyn slapped the back of his head.

"Don't start rumors about Florina! As _if_ she had enough malice in her spirit to hate someone without reason," the Sacaean girl said rather forcefully, "No, she's genuinely afraid of men. Hector, you're the manliest man around, and I don't mean that as a compliment. A lunkhead like you should just stay away from my friend."

"What do you think I'm going to do to her?" he asked.

"Scare her to death," Fiora answered, "Stay away from my sister, please."

Hector huffed and walked away grumbling. Lyn glanced slyly over at the turquoise haired woman.

"You didn't have to be _so_ defensive," Lyn said, "A few mean looks from you would have sufficed."

Fiora smirked, "And you didn't have to be so blunt. But he's dealing with my baby sister. He has to know that there's punishment for negligence."

* * *

They were going to be in Ostia soon. That in itself put Hector in a better mood. Florina made a full recovery, and scarcely seemed ill at all. That made the young lord feel a little better about the situation. He still was at a loss as to why all women started to hate him for no reason, but he decided to live with it. Perhaps he would ask Uther about it, his brother always had a way of dealing with women. It made Hector wonder as to why his older brother wasn't married already, he certainly would have no trouble finding someone suitable. 

Ostia, his home, the place where he had grown up. It was wonderful to be back, after so many weeks of absence. He had servants aid Mark in getting everyone settled for the night and he headed off to his own room. He changed quickly and started off for a walk. His brother wouldn't arrive at the castle until tomorrow and he needed some fresh air.

He wanted to talk to his brother. The details of the mission so far would have to wait until tomorrow when Eliwood and Lyn were there. The blue haired lord just wanted to chat with his brother like old times. They had always been there for each other, and Hector was not about to lose that bond. He walked down the marble halls gazing at the familiar sights

He headed toward the main hallway, to where the portraits of many of the great Ostian rulers hung. There he saw the small figure of Florina, gazing up at the image of his father. Her eyes were large and blue, her lips slightly parted, her expression was that of scrutiny, as though she were searching for something hidden, a secret message in the brush strokes. Hector leaned against one of the columns and watched her. She tilted her head to one side and sighed.

Hector smiled a little and wondered just what was going through her head. Was she even thinking about him? Was she just as confused about him as he was about her? The lavender haired girl sighed and turned to leave. It was then she caught sight of him. Her look of peaceful confusion had turned into embarrassment, and her face turned bright red.

"Hey, Florina," he said, "Are you lost?"

Hector headed toward her, and she seemed to shrink in fear. She nodded a little. He smiled brightly.

"Then I'll walk you back to your room, all right?" he told her. She nodded again. He walked ahead of her and she followed silently. The blue haired lord knew that Mark was putting everyone up in the east wing of the fortress, then it would only be a matter of asking the right servant where Florina's room was.

He glanced behind him at the lavender haired girl. She instantly lowered her head when he turned around. Hector found himself slightly frustrated with her, but not mad. He got her to her room and she entered her room bowing gratefully before closing the door.

Hector had to admit, Florina was cute. She had a doll like face and was of a very slender build. The lavender haired girl seemed to exude sweetness. So why was it, whenever he was around, she froze, and was barely able to speak a word to him? Hector hoped he didn't come across as scary as Lyn and Fiora had made him sound. He sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose in frustration. Women were a complicated business.

* * *

Hector, along with Eliwood, Mark, Lyn, Ninian and Nils informed Uther of the situation they found themselves in now. Uther offered to help them in anyway he could and they were glad to know of his support. Before they could continue, word came that the fortress was surrounded by mercenaries. Uther and his men were instantly on the move and Mark ordered everyone to hold their ground and to defend the castle at all costs. As if to add to their troubles, Nils collapsed and Ninian frantically told them not to move his unconscious body. 

Hector and Florina stayed with Lyn and Kent as they guarded the room where Nils lay unconscious. Hector noted how at ease Florina was with Lyn at her side. They didn't converse much, seeing as they were in the heat of battle, but there was an unspoken sense of camaraderie as they fought, like he had with Eliwood.

The fight raged on. Florina seemed distracted, glancing away from where most of the action was happening and staring at someone coming down the corridor.

"Rath!" she said and pointed. All Hector saw when he looked in was a nomad, but Lyn seemed rather excited and ran toward him, Kent following her. That left just Hector and Florina guarding the room. It wasn't hard, Eliwood, Ninian, Marcus, Fiora and Sain were taking the edge off the fight by confronting most of the invading forces. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, until an arrow sailed out of no where and struck Florina squarely in her left shoulder. Hector was instantly on the offensive.

"Florina, are you all right?" he asked, not really expecting an answer. He never got a clear one, but he could tell she was in pain. As if he didn't have enough to worry about, flying toward them was a wyvern rider he didn't recognize. Hector gripped his axe and stood in front of the lavender haired girl defensively. The rider held up his hands.

"Whoa, calm down, I was just recruited by Lord Eliwood," he explained, "I see your friend there is hurt, is there anything I can do to help?"

Hector nodded, "Could you go get a healer?"

The rider nodded and was off. Hector turned to where he had seen Lyn run off. She seemed to be talking to the nomad. He shook his head, and handed Florina his vulnerary. The dark haired lord knew she had given her last one to Ninian before the battle had begun; the other girl was so much frailer than she was. Florina took his vulnerary hesitantly. When she finally raised it to her lips, another arrow sailed through the air toward her. This time, he was ready. He spun his axe so its broad side would shield her from the projectile.

"Florina, if I leave for a few minutes, will you be all right?" he asked. She nodded in response.

"I'll be back," the blue haired lord called over his shoulder. He knew were the ballistas were for this fortress, he had spent many summers there. Hector was certain the enemies were using them to their own advantage. Sure enough he was right. He knew that Florina was out of range from one of the archers in the ballista, and Marcus was closing in on him fast. The other one would be his prime concern. Archers were never hard to defeat, this one was cut down in a matter of minutes. The spindly form of Rebecca rounded the corner and she climbed in.

"Thanks, Lord Hector, I couldn't get in close enough without him noticing, and Raven seems to enjoy taking his sweet time in getting here," she told the blue haired lord, "You'd better get back into position before Fiora finds you here and scolds you."

Hector inwardly flinched at the mention of being scolded. Why did everyone know about how he was at odds with Fiora? He narrowed his eyes in annoyance. No, every _female _knew he was at odds with Fiora. It seemed women in general had just rallied against him. He ran back toward Florina, who was talking to Lyn. Beside the Sacean girl was the tall, stoic nomad, he had seen her talking to before. Lyn turned to Hector and put her hands on her hips.

"And where were you?" she asked.

"Taking care of some business, what's it to you?" he asked.

"You left my friend injured and vulnerable!" Lyn cried, "What were you thinking!"

Hector was angered by this accusation. It was true, but he had gone to stop a threat, one that could have eventually killed Florina. Before he could open his mouth to respond, the pegasus knight quietly interjected.

"Lyn…it's all right, he helped me," she told her friend in a barely audible voice. Lyn gazed up at the younger girl and blinked almost in disbelief.

"I see…" Lyndis said softly. Hector smirked and stood beside Florina with a smug look. However confident he seemed, inside he was completely dumbstruck. Florina, with a few soft spoken words had single handedly saved him a lecture. He was grateful for it, and was also curious as to how such a mild answer could turn away the full blown rage of a woman like Lyn.

The wyvern rider returned with a healer all right, but just the one Hector didn't want to see. Serra jumped off the wyvern and healed Florina quickly. The blue haired lord had to give her some credit, she was an excellent healer.

"Are you all right, Florina? Did Lord Hector go off crusading and leave you to the wolves?" the feisty cleric asked of the quiet pegasus knight.

"No, it was my fault, I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings…" Florina replied softly, "Lord Hector is not to blame…"

Serra grinned and placed a hand on her hip, "So, he's trained you to make excuses for him, eh?"

"No…it's…just that…it wasn't…" the lavender haired girl stammered as her face turned the familiar brilliant shade of red. She ended up sighing exasperatedly and decided not to finish her thought. Hector could have sworn Serra's smile changed slightly to that of…understanding? He shook his head, he was just imagining things.

* * *

The battle ended. The troops retreated eventually, just like Mark had hoped they would. Lord Uther suggested that they go to the Nabata Desert and seek the guidance of a "living legend" as he put it. The army packed up that day and get ready to leave for the desert in the morning. It was an understatement to say that everyone was less than thrilled at the thought of going, but it was a necessary trip. 

The night before they were to depart, Hector wandered the halls of the fortress aimlessly once again. He stopped at a window and gazed out at the neatly kept garden below. Most gardens in Ostia weren't just there for show. The same was true of this one, it was full of flowering trees, but these trees also yielded fruit. There were very few plants that didn't have a medicinal or nutritional value in the garden. Nothing was a waste in his home country.

"Well, this is the last thing I expected you to be doing," a familiar voice said. Hector turned to face his brother. Uther smirked and leaned on the sill beside him.

"Imagine, Lord Hector staring placidly into the garden," Uther continued, "You are more the type to be brandishing your axe in some wild fashion shouting about how you want to have a word with me."

Hector laughed, his brother was right, he didn't usually return to Uther quietly. However, he wasn't in the mood to shout at his brother or anyone else for that matter. He wanted answers, and for some reason, he felt that yelling and ranting about it wouldn't get him what he wanted.

"Uther…do you think I'm a strong warrior?" Hector asked. Uther was rather surprised at his younger brother's solemn question. The younger lord was definitely out of his usual character.

"Hector, what happened?" the elder brother inquired.

"Answer my question, Uther and I'll answer yours," Hector shot back. Uther sighed.

"You are strong, Hector," the older lord answered, "You'll only get stronger from here."

"Do you really think so?" his younger brother asked studying his hand, "I need to be stronger. I need to be in order to help Eliwood. But…I'm not sure if I can. I can't seem to pull myself together in certain situations. I am currently assigned to work with this pegasus knight. It's not hard, except…well this one time, she got into some trouble with a wyvern rider. I was given a wyrmslayer…I know I can use it…but I froze. She got attacked with his poison lance and she almost died. It's all my fault. If only I had acted…"

Uther started to walk away.

"Hey! Where are you going? I'm not done talking to you!" Hector shouted. Uther turned a little and smirked.

"We're going to the training grounds, to refresh ourselves on the art of sword play," the elder of the two brothers said. Hector frowned and followed him. The two brothers grabbed swords from the training racks and headed out into the night air to spar a little.

"Your stance is weak," Uther said right off the bat. Hector rolled his eyes.

"You're not so good with swords yourself," Hector reminded his brother as he fixed his positioning. He was completely caught off guard by Uther's sudden attack and only barely managed to block it in time.

"But unlike you, I don't hesitate," the older man said. Hector pushed his brother's sword back and struck forcefully, however, Uther blocked his move expertly.

"But what if my attacks weren't good enough to stop the wyvern rider?" the younger lord asked, "What if everything I did still resulted in the same outcome?"

Uther forced his brother back with a series of strong, well placed parries. Hector growled in frustration. Not only was his brother not answering his question, he was beating him in their sparring match.

"Come on, Hector! You're not even trying!" Uther said, "I know what your problem is."

"What is it?" Hector asked trying to block his brother's attacks, "Because I'd sure like to know."

The elder brother smirked and ended his devastating attacks. He chuckled and sheathed his sword, "You are afraid of leaving your comfort zone."

"What do you mean?" the younger lord inquired, putting away his sword.

"When you are in battle, Hector, you want to know for sure whether or not your are going to destroy your enemy," the older man explained, "You don't want to rely on something that you only have a little bit of confidence in. So when it comes to something you're not sure of, you freeze. So when your pegasus knight was in trouble, you didn't act because you didn't want to try something that you weren't certain was going to ensure her safety. You weren't sure if your skills with a sword would stop the wyvern."

Uther shook his head, "I'm glad that you're not the tactician. You'll take all kinds of risks as long as you know you can swing your axe and force your way out of trouble. You've got to be willing to force your way out of any situation no matter what weapon you are wielding."

The two headed back inside. Hector was about to complain about how short their spar was, but decided against it. There seemed to be something different about his brother, he just couldn't put his finger on it. Hector decided not to dwell on it.

"Hey…Uther…" the younger man began, "Why do you think all these women hate me all of a sudden?"

Uther laughed and smirked, "What do you mean?"

Hector went on to relate the past few weeks' happenings. Starting with Florina and Serra, then adding Lyn and Fiora…just what had he done to deserve all this hostility?

"And then, Fiora and Lyn said I scared Florina! Can you imagine that?" he asked. Uther looked amused by the whole situation.

"I certainly can. This all seems to be about Florina. Fiora and Lyn I can safely say are being protective of her," Uther said, "Now, Serra…I think I know what her problem is. That you'll have to figure out on your own."

Hector's mouth twitched in annoyance. He always had to figure the more difficult things out on his own. However, one issue was still bothering him.

"But what about Florina? She seems deathly afraid of me, and I don't want her to be…" Hector said. His older brother raised an eyebrow.

"Why not?" the older man asked.

"Mark says that the battle partners he chose are going to be in it for the long haul. We're going to be working together for while and I want to get to know her better! Everyone seems to be making friends with their partners. Even Serra has finally warmed up to her escort…sort of…" Hector said. Uther laughed and shook his head.

"You said she has a fear of men. How do you plan to overcome that obstacle?" the elder brother asked. Hector shrugged.

"I'm not sure," he asked. The older man sighed. Hector was rather ignorant of the obvious when it came to dealing with women.

"Try and find out when and with whom she's most comfortable," Uther suggested, "Ask those closest to Florina questions about her. She'll open up eventually if you play your cards right. But I wouldn't get too close."

"Why not?" Hector inquired.

"You may be sending her a message that you might be interested in her," Uther replied.

"But I _am_ interested in her. She and I fight side by side every day, I should be," the younger man replied. The older lord sighed exasperatedly.

"She might think you're in love with her if you go about this the wrong way," Uther said bluntly. Hector paused. Love? He hadn't even thought of it that way…

"Choose your path wisely, Hector," Uther told his brother and headed away. Hector's head was still spinning with this new information. If he got too close, he could hurt Florina and make her more afraid of him than ever. However, he didn't want to feel alienated from someone he'd have to be with every day for months on end. He didn't want Florina to stand next him with this permanent look of fear, as though he were an enemy soldier chained to her ankle.

Hector wanted her to feel safe with him, he wanted her to know that as long as he was there, she'd be all right. He'd have to be stronger in order to do that. The last thing he wanted to do was scare such a sweet girl out of her wits or mislead her in any way. In order to know Florina better, he'd have to watch his steps carefully and take risks in more ways than one.

* * *

Hector was ready to face any challenge, and he was going to tackle them all a little at a time. He decided to start with Florina. Since going up to her and talking to her forthright would probably make his self imposed mission harder, he decided to chose a covert way of gathering information, one who would actually be on his side. Matthew was a trained spy and he already knew Florina pretty well. What was more, Matthew was male, and was probably going to be less inclined to hate him. 

At the end of the first day's journey, as the camp got settled, Hector called Matthew to his tent. The blond sauntered in, with a devious smile and sat on the cot across from him.

"So, what can I do for you, Lord Hector?" the spy asked. Hector was starting to think twice about asking Matthew for help, judging by his expression, but it was too late for that now.

"I want you to tell me everything you know about Florina," the blue haired lord told him. Matthew blinked in surprise first, and then slowly, a smirk spread across his features.

"What?" Hector asked.

"Sure thing, your highness," the thief replied.

"Why do you have that smug look on your face?" Hector prodded.

"What smug look?" Matthew shot back, still grinning evilly.

The young lord growled, "Just tell me what you know…"

Matthew sighed and began to rattle off a whole bunch of statistics and a little biography. Of course, he was talking far too fast for Hector to follow. The blonde must have sensed this, for his devious smile grew larger and he handed the blue haired lord several sheets of paper.

"Here, that's an entire profile for you," Matthew said, "Mark has several copies of detailed statistics and personal information on every member of the army. Of course, I had a hand in making them, so I get whatever copies I ask for. I had a feeling you'd need these."

Hector sifted through the pages, "How did you know I'd need them?"

"I can read into things like you can't. I could foresee you needing them," Matthew told him, "I'll see you around. If you'd like I'll keep tabs on Florina for you."

"Go ahead," Hector said. With that, Matthew disappeared into the night.

Hector spent a better part of the night reading about a certain lavender haired pegasus knight. He decided he'd learn about trivial things later. Right now he needed to know her close friends, what she liked and disliked. He had to get on her good side as best he could. Eliwood entered the tent and upon seeing Hector, was almost dumbfounded.

"Hector? Reading? Without Oswin breathing down his neck? The world must be ending," the red haired lord said.

"Ha ha," Hector said unenthusiastically.

"What are you reading?" Eliwood asked with a smirk. Hector narrowed his eyes.

"Nothing," he replied, "Where were you?"

Eliwood blushed slightly, "No where."

The two friends looked at each other from across the tent and started to laugh heartily.

"Okay, okay, let's be honest with each other now," Eliwood said, "I was with Ninian, by the fire."

Hector raised an eyebrow, "Ninian?"

"Yes, I do think I'm developing a bit of an attachment to her," he replied, "She and I haven't spoken much, but she seems like such a nice girl. And yet, she's so sad. I just want her to know that not everyone in this world hates her."

"Eliwood's got a crush on Ninian," Hector teased. Eliwood laughed and shook his head.

"Maybe I do," he said, "But what about you? What are you reading?"

"A file on Florina," Hector answered, "I need to know more about her and she's not exactly forthcoming."

"She's definitely shy," Eliwood said, "But…aren't you being a bit of a stalker?"

"Well, she won't even talk to me," Hector said, "Apparently, I scare her to death. And I don't want that. I want her to feel safe with me."

It was Eliwood's turn to raise an eyebrow, "Hector, it sounds to me like I'm not the only one with a crush."

Hector gazed over at his friend in confusion, "What? I just want to know more about her."

"What do you think you'll find out?" Eliwood prodded. Hector stopped for a moment.

"I'm not quite sure," he said as he lay back on his cot and put his hands behind his head.

"From what you've seen of her so far, what do you think you'll find?" Eliwood asked.

Hector placed the papers on his chest and stared at the ceiling of the tent. What did he expect to find? Obviously something good, but what exactly?

"Just keep my question in mind when you continue this endeavor," Eliwood said. Hector nodded and kept his eyes locked on the ceiling. What was he looking for in Florina? He fell asleep turning the question over and over in his mind

* * *

The next morning came and Hector was very confused. He headed off to breakfast, lost in thought and quieter than usual. This wasn't acceptable to Serra as she tried repeatedly to get his attention. She hated seeing Hector so quiet, it usually meant something was wrong. Serra sat beside him as he ate his breakfast in relative silence. The pink haired girl despised silence. She had to come up with something obnoxious and irritating quick. 

Serra sighed melodramatically, "Lost in your thoughts about Florina, I see."

Hector spit out his porridge in surprise and turned to her with eyes full of confusion.

"Who told you!" he cried. Serra blinked in surprise. She hadn't expected to be right, but she decided to yuck it up.

"Oh, I figured it out myself, you're pretty obvious," she replied.

"If you dare tell anyone else about it I'll make you wish you never joined this army!" he said harshly.

Serra smirked, "Your secret's safe with me."

"That's what I'm afraid of," Hector said. With that he got up took the rest of his porridge with him. Florina came to the fire shortly after.

"What happened to Lord Hector?" the lavender haired girl asked, "And…why is there porridge all over the ground?"

"It's a long story," Serra answered and motioned for Florina to sit down. The pegasus knight sat beside her on the log and had her attention fixed on her "teacher"

"Now for our next princess lesson," Serra began, "This one is called 'Being Obnoxious.'"

Before she could begin, Matthew called to the pink haired cleric. Serra grinned mischievously.

"What is it?" she said in a sing-song voice. Matthew had an equally devious smile on his face.

"Our bull is conveniently cornered in the china shop," he said. Florina blinked. What on earth was he talking about?

"Good, all we need now is to prepare our china doll and hope all turns out for the best," Serra answered. Florina squinted her eyes in confusion. What was going on? Matthew made a mock salute and headed off.

"Now, let's begin our lesson," Serra said, without missing a beat.

* * *

This wasn't fair. Hector decided the whole world was against him. All he wanted to do was learn a little bit about his battle partner, and suddenly, everyone thinks he's in love with her. He wasn't! He didn't care about her at all! 

Okay, that was a lie, Hector did care. Enough not to want her hurt or anything, but he certainly wasn't in love with her. Uther was right, he did have to choose his steps shrewdly. Too bad he wasn't a tactician. Then he'd know exactly how to go about this. He decided not to ask Mark about matters such as this, seeing as the other man had so few romantic dealings with those of the opposite sex. Asking Sain was out of the question and Oswin was also not the first person he'd choose to talk about something like this with.

Eliwood's question stuck with him. If Florina ever did get more open with him, just what would she be like? Would she be what he was expecting? Just what _was_ he expecting? Hector was ripped out of his train of thought and he stopped dead in his tracks. He heard the laughter of females, and right now, they had mounted up against him.

He hid behind a tent and gazed around the corner as they sat down at one of the campfires. Hector sighed in relief as it was only Ninian and Florina, the less hostile of the women in the camp. Accompanying them was the sprightly Nils, who seemed to be the only male that Florina had fully opened up to. Hector secretly envied him and wished that he too was a pre-pubescent boy so that Florina would talk to him so freely. Hector thought back to his preteen days and instantly revoked the wish. He was very awkward during that stage of his life.

He decided to watch the lavender haired girl with the two siblings, since now she seemed most comfortable. She and Ninian talked, and smiled. Mostly they conversed about their home, Ilia and something called the great dragon. So she liked to talk about her home. He made mental note to read up on Ilia. Nils piped in now and then and Florina was attentive to him when he spoke.

Florina seemed so happy, her smile although small and shy was radiant. She was a far cry from the wide eyed, fearful girl she was around him. If this was the Florina that would surface if he got to know her better then he wouldn't mind her so much. In fact, he wouldn't mind if people assumed that he loved her. Because it just might become truth.

It was a big _might_ right there. Until further notice, he'd proceed with caution.

* * *

I will try to update at least once a month or so. 


	7. Desert Flower

I bet you thought I was lying when I said I'd try to update this more often! Ha! I wasn't! This has been my pet project for…almost forever (or at least the instant I picked up Fire Emblem and saw Florina and Hector) and I want to finish it! I leave so many fics by the wayside and I won't leave them.

I am really, really surprised at how many people actually still wanted to read this, and how many new readers I got. That made my day/week/month.

Anyway, here we go, off to chapter seven!

* * *

**Stronger**

**Chapter Seven: Desert Flower**

* * *

Florina thrived in cold weather. She couldn't say the same about hot weather. Florina, Fiora and Heath all flew high above the army providing shade, but she didn't like the over exposure to the sun. The lavender haired girl got some solace in watching her friends below. Ninian was walking arm in arm with Lord Eliwood, and that made the pegasus knight smile. Florina had the suspicion that Ninian might be infatuated with the red haired lord. Lyn and Hector were pestering each other. This made Florina glad to see them having fun, but slightly jealous. She suppressed a giggle as Hector hoisted Nils onto his shoulders. 

Florina found herself watching Hector for far longer than she expected. She felt her cheeks rouge slightly as she caught herself daydreaming of being down there with him. She sighed and hung her head. Even if she was down there, what would she do? Stutter or just be silent the whole time….still Florina wanted to be in his presence.

"Oh, Huey…" she sighed, "Why do I want to be with him? Even though he scares the living daylights out of me…"

The pegasus snorted. Florina's face turned bright red.

"No I don't! It's not true!" she said. Huey tugged on his reins in annoyance.

"Well…the _thought_ of him doesn't scare me as much as it used to," she admitted, "In fact, thinking about him doesn't scare me at all…in fact, I've been doing that a lot lately…"

Florina sighed. Perhaps when she had more time, she would worry more about her feelings toward Hector, and if they were more than she's admitting. The heat made her too miserable to think of anything else. She chastised herself. What good was thinking about Hector if she never even talked to him?

The pegasus knight gazed down at the troops below. There was something going on. Ninian was pointing ahead, and Mark was shouting orders. Florina circled lower to the ground and got ready for battle. She settled Huey over by Hector and awaited her assignment.

Mark gazed at the terrain with scrutiny. Florina looked in the direction he was gazing and saw a lone figure fighting a large band of mercenaries on his own. Mark adjusted his glasses and nodded. He headed over to Florina and Hector.

"For this battle, I need to split you two up," the mousy haired boy informed them. Florina blinked in surprise, but waited to hear the reasons.

"The sand here is far too difficult to maneuver horses in, and most units are having trouble with the heat. Florina, you are our strongest flying unit, I need you to do a lot of transporting and fighting," Mark informed her. Florina was quite in shock over Mark's comments. The strongest flying unit? But what about Fiora? Or even the new recruit, Heath?

"I want you to return to Hector after every assignment I give you, I'll relay all your orders through him. Your first mission: rescue the sage being attacked. Bring him to Erk, he seems to know this particular sage very well," the boy told her. Florina nodded. The battle began, and she took to the skies.

Something in her took over. A volley of arrows came her way. She dodged them with extreme ease, doing a barrel spin out of their range. Huey swooped down quickly. Without a word, she helped the sage onto the back of the pegasus and took off once again. Within minutes, the lavender haired girl set him down by Erk and took off again.

Florina was surprised at how fast she was, despite all the heat. When did she get all this speed? Huey didn't seem to be nearly as phased by the fact that he had a man riding as he used to be back in Caelin. They both had grown astronomically since then. Enemies that used to be difficult to beat hardly seemed a challenge now. She worked her way back to Hector and took out an enemy mage that had been in her way.

"Mark wants you to fly Serra around to the injured units," Hector told her as she landed gracefully, "She'll be here in a few minutes, so brace yourself."

Florina realized that the thought of working with Serra didn't scare her as much anymore. The pink haired girl, for all her quirks wasn't that bad. Those princess lessons with her allowed Florina to understand the cleric a little better. She arrived soon after, Lucius in tow.

"Florina! What a pleasure to be working with you!" Serra declared, "I'm sure _certain_ people are going to be jealous."

She glanced over at Hector and he rolled his eyes. The cleric, with Florina's help, climbed on to Huey's back. Serra waved to Lucius as they began to take off.

"I'll be back to gaze upon your beauty, my dearest Brother Lucius!" she cried. Florina smiled and shook her head. Serra sighed melodramatically.

"Honestly, did you ever see such a beautiful man before?" the pink haired girl asked. The lavender haired girl found herself laughing a little despite herself. True, there was no one with looks quite like Lucius.

"Is there any man in the army _you_ find particularly handsome?" Serra asked, that devious smile on her face. Florina sighed and blushed. She didn't really want to tell the cleric anything about her possible interest in Lord Hector.

"N-no…not really," Florina managed to stammer out. She flew down to Dorcas and Bartre, and Serra jumped off to do her job. Florina wondered how long she'd keep her secret a secret.

"Rumor has it, Lord Hector has taken an interest in someone," Serra said idly, feigning disinterest. Florina's heart jumped.

"Really?" Florina said, trying to hide her curiosity.

"Oh yes, he's been asking everyone everything they know about her. He's almost obsessed!" the cleric went on. Florina knew Serra had a knack for exaggerating the truth, so she took this information with a grain of salt.

Serra tossed her pigtails as they took to the sky. She smirked a little and looked at Florina expectantly.

"Who do you think the lucky girl is?" the cleric asked expectantly.

"I don't know…you?" Florina answered. She tried not to let Serra see the embarrassment and jealousy that crossed her features. Serra laughed and slapped her thigh in amusement.

"Oh if only that were so…but he's fallen in love with a ravishing warrior of Caelin," Serra answered.

Florina started a little. Could Lord Hector have fallen in love with Lyn?

"Is…that so?" Florina said, her voice straining. Serra picked up on the change in Florina's voice. Since at the moment she was unsure of what conclusion Florina had drawn, she merely let out another dramatic sigh and daintily put a hand to her forehead.

"And she's in such denial about it, too," the pink haired girl added, "But he's persistent. I'm sure Hector will get what he wants in the end."

Florina's jaw became set. She had to figure out how she felt about Hector and fast. She had to make a move. Just how successful her move would be, she wasn't sure…but she had to try.

The battle between the mercenaries finished without too many hitches. Aside from feeling a little dehydrated, and exhausted, the rest of the army seemed all right. Eliwood had run into a man named Hawkeye during the fray, and he seemed to know the way to this "living legend."

The troupe got ready to go on the move, when suddenly everyone started screaming. Florina was confused from her vantage point in the sky, but as she circled downward she saw everyone sinking into the sand. Most had already disappeared beneath the surface, but she saw Lord Hector struggling to stay above. Florina swallowed hard and flew to his side and held out her hand.

"There you are, Florina!" he said. The young lord grabbed her outstretched hand. The three struggled to get him out, but Florina found herself and Huey being pulled into the sand as well.

"Florina, let go, it's useless. Save yourself," Hector insisted. Florina wouldn't let go, Hector was a marquess, it was her duty to protect him. As they both sank deeper into the sand she struggled with the feeling of failure that closed around her as fast as the sand did around her waist. She turned to Hector, sensing that this may be the last time they could speak to each other.

"Lord Hector…" she began. "I…"

She trailed off as Hector was sucked below into the sand. Florina was horrified, but it wasn't long before she also disappeared into the depths of the earth.

* * *

"No, no it's nothing. She's just resting," a soft voice said. Florina opened her eyes. It was Serra standing over her. Such an unassuming voice didn't fit Serra, and Florina was in shock. 

"Oh, you're awake! It's a good thing, too," the cleric said her voice regaining its trademark volume. "Lord Hector was about to choke either me or Lucius for not knowing what was wrong with you."

"He would most likely have ended up choking me," Matthew clarified. "For some reason I get blamed for everything in this army."

"But you're okay, right?" Serra inquired.

"Yes, I am," Florina answered. Matthew was here?

"See, Lord Hector, nothing to be afraid of," Sain added. Florina was now confused. What was Sain doing here? Where was here? She stood up groggily and looked at their surroundings. She saw Huey and went to his side and petted his nose as Serra and Hector began to argue.

"What good are you to us if you can't even use your healing in the stupid seal?" he shouted.

"Well do you want me to stay here and possibly be ambushed by enemies?" she cried.

"Sister Serra, I'll stay behind with you, and protect you while Lord Hector, Matthew, Florina and Sain go on ahead. How does that sound?" Lucius asked. Serra turned to him, still glaring, but she sighed and nodded. Hector's jaw dropped and the cleric cut her eyes at him.

"What?" she snapped. "The alternative Brother Lucius suggested was perfectly reasonable."

"Since when do you listen to reason?" Hector asked. Serra shrugged and waved for him to go ahead. Matthew picked the door blocking their path and the four of them set off. Before he left the room, Matthew and Serra exchanged glances.

"What was that all about?" Lucius asked.

"Nothing," Serra replied. "Nothing at all."

The four had an uneventful start. There was a silenced bishop, but so far, there had been nothing of real interest. Thus, idle chat ensued.

"I haven't fought alongside you in ages," Sain said slapping Florina's shoulder. She smiled and laughed nervously. For once though, she wasn't filled with dread whenever he was near. Actually, despite being in a group with three men, she wasn't afraid much at all.

"I guess I've lost you to Lord Hector, he's just richer, stronger and more important," Sain added.

"That's right pretty boy, she's my battle partner, stop bothering her," Hector snapped.

"Oh, come on, my lord! I've known Florina far longer than you," the green knight said. "Isn't that right, Florina?"

"Y-yes, it is," she replied.

"Are you more comfortable with Sain than with me, Florina?" Hector asked. "Because if you are, you can work with him instead."

Florina was shocked at this. Though it was very true that she was a bit more comfortable with Sain, it was only because she knew his quirks and such; but she would not give up her partnership with Lord Hector.

"No…I'd rather stay…" she said softly.

"What did you say?" Hector asked. "You have got to speak up!"

"She said that she'd like to keep working with you," Matthew clarified. "My lord, you are going deaf in your young age," he said. Hector snorted and walked ahead grumbling and began to smack a wall, trying to get it to crumble. Florina went to help him, lodging her spear in a large crack and trying to wedge it apart. When it finally fell, a knight was waiting for them. Sain charged ahead, finishing him in a few quick strikes.

"You've…gotten very strong, Sain," Florina commented shyly as Sain returned to her side. He grinned and tossed his hair dramatically.

"I must get stronger to protect those I love," he said. The pegasus knight giggled knowing that Sain loved any and all women. Florina didn't notice Hector grumbling in front of them. Matthew, ever the observant one noticed this right away.

"Hey, what's wrong, my lord?" he said wrapping an arm around Hector's broad shoulders.

"Nothing, Matthew," the lord hissed. Florina was starting to get a little more nervous; Hector was obviously irritated.

"Aw, Hector's jealous because you never compliment him!" Matthew said. Florina felt her face turn bright red as everyone's eyes fell on her. They were expecting a retort and she only looked down and fiddled with Huey's reigns.

"W-well…L-lord Hector…um…you…I…" she began. Her voice failed her and she was near to tears.

"See Hector, you're not tough enough for her," Matthew said.

"That's not…" the girl mumbled. It simply wasn't true and now there was no way to convince them of otherwise. If only her tongue would cooperate...

"Matthew, you should know better than to put her on the spot like that. She'll never come out and say anything if everyone's watching," Hector told him. Matthew smirked.

"Explaining away the fact that she hasn't seen improvement from you," he quipped. Hector growled and Matthew only laughed. The thief picked the lock to the door that lay before them, all the while Hector was giving him death glares, and Florina avoided looking at either of them. Sain sighed and placed a hand on her shoulder reassuringly.

"Hey don't let them bother you! I'm you're friend, I'll look out for you," he told her. She smiled and nodded. Hector easily took care of the next knight in their way, slicing through his armor quite viciously. Florina winced and bit her lip a little. When Hector was in a bad mood, he attacked with added violence. Was he really that upset about her not complimenting him? Did he really want her to say something? Hector was the type that didn't need commendation or acceptance from just anyone nor was he so unsure of himself that he needed everyone to flatter him. Maybe he really valued her opinion?

Who was she kidding? It was rather ambitious of her to think that he cared for her more than he actually did. She was a simple girl who could fight by his side and nothing more. Matthew was busy listening to what was going on to the other side of the door. Florina thought she should listen carefully to what Matthew had to say; it may be crucial unlike her thoughts.

"I hear armor, a heavy shield dragging on the ground. A hero is on the other side," he said. "Also…there is the brush of robes. A mage or sage of some sort is there too. I may be no expert in magic, but I sense that this may be the source of the block."

Hector nodded, "So Sain will take out the hero, and Florina can take out the sage," Hector strategized. Matthew nodded.

"Good plan," he commented. He picked the lock and stood to one side as Sain leapt into a fray. The hero was a formidably enemy, but Sain made it though just a little worse for wear. Florina knew this was her cue. She couldn't worry about what people were thinking, she could only worry about her target and what she had to do. She only focused on him for an instant, enough to see his wrinkled face and jaundiced skin. She rushed forward brandishing her spear and plunged it into his shoulder. He didn't retaliate and she struck again.

It felt as though time itself were standing still as she got a glimpse of his black eyes. He stared at her, his thin lips grim. Florina suddenly felt a horrible feeling that pressed against her forehead and made her throat dry. She would have started crying, but now was not the time for tears. She could vaguely hear Hector calling for her as she pulled her spear from his flesh. He let out a cold breath as he disappeared. As his body dissipated, her vision became white.

* * *

Florina felt the blazing heat on her skin all at once and she looked around. They were back in the desert all of a sudden. The rest of her army mates were equally as confused as she was. How did they end up back up here? 

"Florina!" Hector called. She stared at him blankly. Something wasn't right…was he a bit paler than usual.

"Are you all right? Nothing happened to you after you struck that guy?" he asked. She shook her head. In all reality, she felt unreasonably fearful and jumpy. What was that man she attacked? There was no way he was human.

"I don't know…something about that guy isn't right," Hector said. "I mean, aside from the obvious. I just…be careful, all right?"

Florina nodded. Someday their communication would be a verbal _exchange_, she vowed it. He started to walk ahead, still obviously worried about something. She reached forward about to call to him, but she drew her hand back and placed her fingers over her mouth. It was no use…she could never…

Huey started walking forward on his own toward Hector until the winged horse was trotting beside him. The pegasus then extended a wing and curled it around the young lord reassuringly, as if he were a human putting his arm around Hector's shoulders. She was silent as Hector looked up at her and smiled.

"Thanks for that," he said. Florina nodded and Hector rubbed her arm and walked on ahead. She breathed a sigh and rested her head in Huey's mane.

"Thank you, Huey," she said. The lavandar haired girl knew she couldn't rely on Huey to do al the talking for her forever. She had to speak up for herself someday.

Someday...

* * *

They traveled to a palace where a man named Athos lived. Florina remembered that Athos was one of the warriors that had fought in the Scouring so long ago. Was it possible that he was still alive? Apparently, it was. As Mark, Lyn, Eliwood and Hector disappeared into a room to discuss at length the goings on of the party, the rest of the army rested in the cool halls of the castle. 

Florina preferred to stay in the stable with Huey and think a few things over. Huey placed his white head in her lap and looked up at her as she played with his mane thoughtfully. After a long period of silence, Florina sighed in defeat.

"All right, Huey, you win. I do like Lord Hector," she said to her pegasus. The winged horse snorted. Florina took that to mean, "I knew it."

"Oh, be quiet. Now's just the thing, how do I get him to notice me?" she asked. Huey nudged her a little.

"I can't just talk to him! That's insane!" she said.

"You can't just talk to who?" a light female voice said suddenly. Florina's heart almost jumped out of her chest. There, behind her was Serra, in all her pink haired glory. What was she doing here in the first place?

"Florina, my darling, little Florina wants to talk to a man?" the cleric asked. Florina stuttered.

"W-well…i-it's just that…" she began. Before she could continue, Serra snatched her hand and had dragged her out of the stable, through the courtyard and into what resembled and exhibition hall. Florina glanced at her dubiously as the pink haired girl began to march around her in a circle, holding her healing staff in an imposing manner.

"So, what is the name of this man who has gained your affections?" Serra inquired.

"Ah…his…name…i-is…" Florina started. She was unwilling to let Serra know of her admiration of Lord Hector. It was a hopeless business, she didn't want to get her hopes up too high and end up heartbroken. Hector was in love with Lyn, right? She was a noble after all, and what was Florina to him? His annoying battle partner, who could barely say a word to him...

Serra slammed the base of her staff on the floor.

"Name, now. That is an order, not a request," the cleric said. Florina's face turned an unholy shade of red, and she gulped.

"L-Lord…Hector…" she squeaked out. Serra smirked and crossed her arms.

"I knew it," she said, "So you want to talk to Lord Hector, huh? Well, there's only one way to do it."

Serra put her hands on her hips, spread her legs in an imposing manner.

"You need to be confident of yourself and what you have to say," the cleric explained, "And you need to speak up. Speak up, you hear that, Florina?"

The girl nodded.

"Now stand just like I'm standing," Serra instructed. Florina imitated as best she could, but Serra merely clucked her tongue.

"Your legs need to be farther apart. Shoulders back, chin up," the pink haired girl instructed, "Look down at me! Think of others as bugs, not worthy of your attention if you can."

"Serra…I can't think of Lord Hector as a bug…he's a noble…" Florina said pleadingly, "And can we stop? I feel stupid…"

"What are you going to say to Lord Hector?" Serra asked, disregarding her last statements.

"I-I…was going to say…I was going to thank him for saving me…" Florina replied.

"And…?" Serra prodded. Florina confessed she didn't know what to say after.

"What if he doesn't even remember my name?" she asked. Serra shook her head.

"Just make him remember! Repeat after me," Serra began, " 'Lord Hector! I am Florina, the brave pegasus knight from Caelin. When we first met, you saved me, and I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your valiance.'"

"Serra…that's a lot to say…" Florina said softly. Serra slammed her staff on the floor.

Florina sighed meekly and began her recitation, "Lord Hector, I am Florina, the pegasus knight from--"

"The what, pegasus knight?" Serra interjected.

Florina was beginning to get exasperated, "The _brave_ pegasus knight from Caelin. When we first met, you saved me, and I would like to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your valiance."

Serra smirked mischievously and nodded her head, "Say it again, but louder this time."

Florina cleared her throat, "Lord Hector!"

"Yes?" a voice called from behind her. Florina started and turned slightly. Sure enough Lord Hector himself was coming their way. Florina felt her face flushing up already.

"You had something to tell me Florina?" he asked. She snapped back to reality.

"Y-yes!" she said quickly, "I mean no…I mean…um…I beg your pardon! Good bye!"

With that, she turned and ran down the hall. Hector stared after her, rather confused.

"What am I? Some sort of monster?" he said, scratching his head. Serra on the other hand had burst out laughing at the exchange.

"You should see your face!" she exclaimed. Hector narrowed his eyes.

"What kind of tricks are you playing on her?" he asked.

"Innocent ones," Serra replied sweetly.

"If Florina runs away in terror I doubt they're as innocent as you'd make it seem," he remarked.

"Touché, my lord," Serra said, "But she only started running when you came into the room."

With that, the cleric sauntered away, laughing to herself and saying something about how Matthew would get a kick out of this.

* * *

After staying with Athos for a night, they were transported back to Pharae. Florina decided that she'd rather deal with the nausea induced by a teleportation rather than trek across the desert again. They regrouped in Lord Eliwood's castle for the night, during which she found herself quite out of confidants with which to talk of her new found love. Ninian was chatting away with Lady Elenora and Eliwood. Serra, recently promoted to bishop along with Lucius was studying her light tomes and helping Lucius with his healing techniques. 

'Funny,' Florina thought idly, 'I never think of the more studious side of Serra.'

Lyndis was busy strolling in the garden with Kent, and Fiora was chatting with Oswin of all people in the gallery. It seemed in all her denial of her own love, many more attachments popped up while she wasn't looking. Florina was happy for her friend and her sister. She had always suspected that Kent felt something for Lyn ever since they had arrived in Caelin.

That left her at a loss now. If Hector was falling in love with Lyn, but Lyn was in love with Kent, what would happen? Florina wanted Hector to be happy more than anything, but she couldn't force her friend to fall in love with him just so he could be happy. She also couldn't bear to see Kent left in the lurch. Florina was pained in either situation, but that didn't matter much. There was nothing she could do, but wait and hope that everyone would be happy in the end.

She then thought of Fiora and her possible attachment to Oswin. It seemed before there were whispers of her falling in love with Kent based on their mutual agreement on the tent situation (some women were in tents with men and what not). However, most missed how often she would speak with Oswin. Now that Florina thought about it, the two of the must have had some sort of mutual concern over both her and Hector (mostly Hector she was sure).

They may have even decided together what Hector's punishment was going to be that time she got hurt. The idea of the two of them diplomatically deciding how to punish Hector over tea amused her greatly. Still it was too early to deduce too much about Fiora's attachment. There may be much respect both ways, but Fiora was very careful with matters of her heart.

All these things were fine and good, but who was Florina to turn to for advice now? Her answer was a mousy haired boy with glasses and a green cloak. He came up to her with a lopsided grin and greeted her kindly. Florina found herself more at ease with him. Mark was always looking out for her best interests.

"Well, Florina I've been saving this for a rainy day, but I think you're ready for it," he said. He fumbled through the pockets in his cloak and pulled out a whip. An Elysian Whip. She gasped as he placed it in her hands. Not even Fiora was qualified to use one of these yet.

"As I've always said, you are our best flying unit," he explained, "I don't know what we'd do without you. But I think we could all use a little boost now and then. You are now promoted to Falcoknight."

Florina started. Falcoknights were required to use swords, and she only barely remembered the principles for the weapon.

"I see you're intimidated by the though of using a sword," Mark said, intuitive as always, "That's why I've arranged for Sir Marcus to refresh your memory. He'll be waiting for you by Merlinus' cart."

Florina gulped. She wasn't sure she was quite ready for all this…

"Oh yes, and, here," Mark added, fishing through his cloak for yet another item. He placed it in her hands. It was a small, blue vial.

"These are Afa's Drops. I don't know what they do, but Athos said it to give it to a unit I felt would benefit most from it," the tactician explained.

Florina blushed and thanked him. She placed the vial in her pocket and attached the whip to her belt. The lavandar haired girl then headed toward the cart. There, Marcus and Merlinus were waiting for her.

"Well, we've got another promoted unit, I see," Merlinus said, "You'll need more armor, a new sword, a new saddle, more gear for your pegasus…"

"Don't overwhelm the girl with all these things in one night," Marcus told the merchant, "Here, give her the sword, the rest I'm sure she already knows. Give her the necessary equipment and leave them in her stall."

Merlinus obeyed the knight's orders and before she knew it, an iron sword was in Florina's hand and she was following Marcus to the training grounds.

Her training with Marcus ended in about an hour or two. Florina merely needed a review, not a full course on sword usage. After the session, she carefully crept into the room she shared with Ninian and Nils. Nils was fast asleep, while Ninian was elsewhere.

'Probably with Lord Eliwood,' the lavandar haired girl thought with a smile. Florina lay in her bed and stayed up well into the night reviewing a few things from her training as a pegasus knight in her head. Not the basics, those she knew and could perform them in her sleep. Now that she was reacquainted with the ways of the sword, she remembered a few other obscure things from her training.

One of them was the concept of jumping off of the pegasus in order to ambush an enemy. Usually this referred to taking out guards, but it could also apply to other flying units. Florina had quite often performed the act of jumping from one pegasus to another. She used to sneak off with Farina and her friends and the older girls would all ride their pegasii together. Farina, being far more lenient with rules than Fiora, would allow her to try daring tricks, one of them was to be tossed from rider to rider. Florina always felt safe with them, the girls always caught her no matter what.

She also was required to practice emergency drills at the academy, one of which involved jumping off Huey, to the waiting pegasus of another student. This concept was not lost on her, she just never found a use for it in battle. Something about having the Elysian Whip made her feel daring, like she should add some more spice, strength and finesse to her attacks. Using this seldom used technique seemed to be an interesting, and possibly useful choice for her.

Florina was more than happy to feel this new found strength in her abilities. What she truly wished was that it'd trickle down to her personality eventually. The truth was, she wasn't afraid to fight men. She wasn't afraid to spar with Sir Marcus, that was the easy part. It was talking to him afterward that scared her to death. Perhaps those drops Mark gave her would help…

Florina shook her head. There was no magic potion to get rid of her fears. She had to do this all on her own. Still, she thought, it might be interesting to see what kind of affect the drops would have. She slowly downed the contents of the vial…

…And nothing happened. She shrugged her shoulders and put the vial away. Nils stirred restlessly in his sleep, mumbling to himself. The boy seemed to have so many troubles for someone so young. In fact, both Nils and Ninian seemed unusually depressed for people of their age.

'I guess I'd be depressed too, if I were in their situation,' the lavender haired girl thought. Just then Ninian entered and closed the door slowly behind her. Florina, for once in her life, felt a smirk play across her face. She must have been spending far too much time with Serra, but it was so dreadfully obvious what Ninian was doing.

"Where have you been?" the pegasus knight asked innocently. Ninian jumped, first of all because she was surprised that Florina was awake and second because she wasn't quite sure of how to respond without incriminating herself.

"I…um…I was with…" Ninian stuttered. Florina wondered if this was what it was like on the other side. It was kind of fun watching Ninian smile, and blush under scrutiny.

"Lady Elenora must be a lovely person to let us stay the night like this," Florina said.

"Yes, she is quite lovely," Ninian replied.

"I heard she was quite the dancer in her day," the lavender haired girl commented.

"She still is. She and Eliwood even taught me a new…" Ninian trailed off. She had just given away where she had been all night. She gasped and covered her mouth in embarrassment while Florina giggled uncontrollably.

"Don't be embarrassed, I'm happy for you," the pegasus knight said. Ninian blushed and sighed slightly.

"I'm glad someone's happy for me," she said. With that, the dancer fell asleep. Florina was a little confused by that statement but until Ninian explained her worries to her, she wouldn't dwell on it.

* * *

They were on their way to Bern early the next morning. Florina found herself newly excited; everyone seemed to be impressed with her promotion. Fiora showered her with praise, something that she rarely did unless merited, Lyn was quick to tell her how she always knew that Florina had a fighter's spirit. Ninian was simply impressed at how Florina's skill had developed. 

While everyone had a good comment or two about her promotion, what Florina found she desperately desired most of all was a comment of some sort from Lord Hector. However, he seemed to be preoccupied with talking to Matthew. Florina was just a little disappointed. Perhaps she could gain his praise from showing her skill on the battlefield.

Infiltrating Bern turned out to be slightly easier than expected. Within a few days they had managed to make it within the borders without being detected. With Lady Louise and Lord Pent on their side, it was done without difficulty. While the two nobles traipsed off to talk to Lady Louise's cousin, who just so happened to be the queen of Bern, everyone else waited for them to return with news.

Passing the time was not as hard as Florina had thought it would be. She particularly enjoyed seeing Lord Eliwood, Lyn, and Lord Hector dressed as commoners. Seeing Lyn dressed like someone from Bern was new since she had always worn traditional Sacean garb, and Hector and Eliwood dressed as the rest of them was quite novel. Hector for one seemed a lot less imposing with less armor on, though his muscular frame was still very intimidating.

She had to admit, she was just slightly jealous of seeing Hector and Lyn running about the village together. Florina simply sighed. Next to her she heard a similar sigh. She turned and saw Nils, sitting on a bench beside her, putting his head in his hands and staring sullenly ahead. Florina hadn't even noticed that he had sat down, but she wasn't bothered. She was unafraid of this version of the male species. Not only did she know him quite well through all her talks with Ninian, but he was so unassuming, and adorable. He conjured up no ill will or bad feelings.

"What's the matter, Nils?" she asked, running her fingers through his hair. He blushed slightly and narrowed his eyes sadly.

"It's Ninian…" he said slowly, "She's with Lord Eliwood…and I…"

He paused and then continued, "I'm a little jealous of the time she's spending with him."

Florina smiled and put her arm around his shoulder, "We all get jealous sometimes."

The lavender haired girl could tell there was more bothering her little friend, but she wasn't about to pry into it if he wouldn't divulge. She'd have to talk to Ninian about this some time in the future.

"Hey…Florina…you're always so nice to me…" he began. He trailed off. Florina grinned and gave him a big hug.

"Who wouldn't be nice to you, Nils?" she asked. The boy blushed and gazed up at her shyly.

"Thank you, Florina," he said. Without another word he ran off. Florina sighed for now she was alone. All these people around her and she was lonely. She chastised herself and forced a smile. Maybe she could do something to enrich herself. Like…talk to Fiora. She resolved to do just that, Fiora always had some good advice for her.

She got up and pushed past a group of siblings talking: a little sister and two older brothers. Florina wondered what it would be like to have brothers instead of sisters. Maybe she'd fear men a little less…though a male version of Farina might have made her fear men even more. Maybe it was best she had two sisters.

She paid no attention to the fog that was rolling in or the man who used its cover to skulk into the town.

* * *

There's just so much stuff this chapter. You've got a promotion, Afa's drops, TWO support conversations, an adorable kid, an angry Hector, Matthew, Serra listening to reason...just look at all that stuff! It's great! 

Thank you to all who reviewed and still read this fic! You make me so happy, you don't even know!


	8. Flight

Weeeell, this should be a fun chapter. I'm finally feeling confident enough to list this as a humor fic. I intended it to be one at first, but I wasn't sure how funny my writing was. I'm also not sure how long this is going to stay funny, as…well, keep reading.

As it stands my humor is also rather dry, but at least I'm not of the slap stick sugar rush humor (which CAN be very funny, but is often misapplied). Now I'm very sure that I'm going to get a lot of, "Well…where are the jokes?" kind of reviews. Thing is I'm never very sure.

So, enjoy the ride, I guess.

* * *

**Stronger**

**Chapter 8: Flight**

* * *

  
They had infiltrated Bern and for the past several days Hector had been wearing "normal" clothes. He was wearing next to no armor outside of battle and this left him feeling rather vulnerable. The young lord was starting to hate this new circumstance. He'd thought in all his vulnerability, he'd seem less intimidating and maybe, perhaps the skittish Florina would chance to talk to him. It almost seemed to work, for she was always looking in his direction, and even came close to walking up to him. However, there was this wall between them and it frustrated Hector. If he were to try to traverse it on his own, Florina would be scared away. He'd simply have to learn how to wait on her.

Patience was never his strong suit, and he was severely tried with her shyness. Why was he wasting his time on this anyway? It wasn't like she'd ever open up to him. It wasn't like he_ wanted_ her to talk to him, or know what goes on in that cute little head of hers. It wasn't like he really _liked_ to hear her laugh or see her smile. Why on earth did he want a girl like _Florina_ to feel safe and comforted when he was around?

Hector had settled into one of his rare bouts of brooding over the matter. Normally he would confide in Eliwood but the red haired lord was off with Ninian probably whispering sweet nothings in her ear. Ninian would blush and accept them meekly. Hector knew Florina would probably faint should he try to say anything poetic or sweet to her. That is of course assuming 1) she'd let him close enough to do so, and 2) Hector could think of something poetic.

Wait, why was he thinking about wooing Florina? He didn't care that much. He couldn't care that much! Serra was for once preoccupied with studying light tomes, much to Hector's confusion, to even bother and distract him. Matthew had conveniently disappeared. All that was left was Oswin to talk to. Hector thought twice about it. Oswin, old 'stick in the mud' Oswin would have a thing or two to say about love. It would all be a very courtly sort of love and Hector simply did not do flowers or midnight rendezvous. Why couldn't women like weapons or something useful?

Florina loved her pegasus, which was kind of like a weapon…Then it hit the young lord in a stroke of genius. If he was going to get closer to Florina in any way, he had to get to her through her pegasus. Yes, that was it! Just as he was about to set his plan in motion, he hesitated. Recalling Uther's words, he wondered just how close he was willing to get to Florina. She just might think that he was in love with her, and he wasn't. He just wanted her to be comfortable at his side. She'd be so comfortable with him, she'd never want leave and that was fine. Love and what he was feeling were two very different things.

This whole business was frustrating. Normally this situation would be something he would drop in a heartbeat. He didn't need this; it was distracting him from what he needed to do. For what? Just to have a smile from a sweet and caring girl cast his way? This was not him. He didn't understand what was going on. If Florina was going to be a distraction then he didn't need her. In addition to being a distraction, he risked hurting her feelings and making her pull away from him. Hector ran his fingers through his hair in confusion. This was too much! He simply wanted nothing to do with her at all. That was it. No more, adorable pegasus knights. No more blushing, stuttering, or quiet smiles when she thinks she was alone…

Why was he still going on about Florina? He didn't need her, and he didn't want to be around her. All right, that was a dead lie, he actually found that she was growing on him. The more he tried to picture going on with out the lavender haired girl the worse his mood seemed to get. Already he could tell cutting her out of his life wasn't going to do him any good.

About four in the morning, the day Lady Louise and Lord Pent were going see the queen of Bern, Hector bolted up out of sleep. An epiphany had just come to him in the jumbled thoughts of his mind at rest.

"Eliwood, wake up," Hector said. Eliwood didn't stir in the cot across from him.

"Oh, come on, Eliwood, wake up!" the young lord shouted. Eliwood groaned and turned over. The blue haired lord got out of bed and shook his friend.

"Eliwood we need to talk, now," the taller boy insisted.

"Hector…it's really early…and I'm sleeping…" Eliwood grumbled. Hector grabbed his friend's covers and tore them off.

"Sorry to interrupt your wet dream about Ninian," the blue haired lord said rather bluntly. "But I need to talk to you. Now."

Eliwood sat up and was reasonably upset for many reasons. One main reason being that his dear friend had indeed interrupted a very, very good dream (though not nearly as dirty as Hector insinuated, but Ninian was involved) and another reason being that…well it _was_ four in the morning.

"I'll talk if you give me back my blanket," Eliwood said holding out his hand. Hector accepted these terms and gave his friend the piece of cloth.

"What is it Hector?" the red head asked, rubbing his eyes groggily.

"Eliwood, I'm in love," Hector said. Eliwood stared blankly for a long time.

"What?" he inquired for clarity's sake. Hector sighed.

"You heard me, I'm in love. I didn't even realize it before," the blue haired lord replied. Eliwood was sure he risked waking up the whole camp, but he started to laugh uncontrollably. Hector growled, but kept silent. He knew if he tried to get Eliwood to stop, he'd probably keep laughing and nothing would be accomplished.

"So…" Eliwood continued, finally regaining his composure somewhat. "You're…in love? With who?"

Hector was starting to think twice about telling Eliwood, but it was too late now.

"Florina," he confessed. Eliwood managed not to laugh, mostly because he had seen it coming.

"Hector…Florina is not quite what I pictured when I thought about you falling in love," the red haired lord told his friend. "Tell me, how much do you know about her as a person?"

"Not much," Hector admitted. This annoyed him. It was not for lack of trying to get to know her that this was so. It was nearing three months since she had started fighting by his side and he still didn't know much about Florina. Eliwood grinned and nodded.

"My friend, what you feel is not quite love, but it's infatuation. You have to get to know her first before you start declaring your affections from the roof tops," he suggested. Hector narrowed his eyes.

"I'm not going to do that Eliwood," the Ostian lord said. Eliwood was starting to lie back on his cot.

"I know Hector, I know," his friend replied.

"Hey, you can't go back to sleep yet! How do I get to know more about her if she won't talk to me! You must know something, you got Ninian, one of the shyest girls in the camp to fall in love with you," Hector said, raising his voice slightly.

"You've got to wait on her," Eliwood said. "Besides Hector, what if you go through all that trouble and she's not even what you want in the first place?"

"She will be," Hector answered. "I'm very sure she's just what I want."

Eliwood yawned and sighed, "Then I'm sure you'll get her. And I'm happy for you."

Eliwood was just too tired to tease his friend and went back to sleep. Hector knew better than to try and wake him up again. Eliwood seemed like a laid back, good natured kind of guy, but interrupt his sleep too much and you may end up in a world of pain. Hector couldn't help when his moments of brilliance came, and they just so happened to be at night. Or really, really early in the morning.

Well, Hector knew he had to enact his plan to learn more about Florina through taking an interest in her pegasus. In order to do that he had to talk to…Fiora…

He wasn't looking forward to the morning.

* * *

Hector had a very hard time going back to sleep, he kept dreaming about stupid things. Like Florina with wings, and he and Eliwood being older and having kids…not together of course. If that did happen, Eliwood was carrying the children. Hector shook his head; the lack of sleep was getting to him, his thoughts were stranger than usual. The oddities kept him fully falling asleep and he was awake earlier than he was used to.

Lowen was surprised to see him as one of the first people in line for food. The green haired man probably would have said something had the young lord not had the fires of hell burning in his eyes. As he tried to eat in some semblance of peace, Oswin and Fiora walked up and sat on either side of him. Hector began to grind his teeth in anger. Here was a lecture first thing in the morning from not one, but _two_ of the people he bumped heads with the most. How much worse could his day get?

"So…what kept you up all night?" Oswin asked. Hector hated that his vassal knew everything about him.

"Bad dreams," he answered vaguely. Fiora took a long sip of her water and shook her head.

"Is that so? Florina used to have bad dreams all the time. It helps if you talk about them," she said. Hector suddenly had a flash back to being about seven years old with his parents at breakfast. All that was missing was Uther teasing him.

"I'd rather not share," he told her.

"Testy aren't we?" Oswin remarked. The young lord took a deep breath and calmed himself. He couldn't risk getting either of them mad, not now anyway.

"I'm sorry, Fiora, I didn't mean to sound so rude," Hector said to the turquoise haired woman. "I actually really need your help."

"Really now?" Fiora began. "With what?"

"I need to know something about pegasuses…es," he confessed. Man did he sound stupid. Oswin raised an eyebrow and Fiora pressed her lips together, visibly suppressing her laughter.

"The plural form of the word pegasus is pegasii. And you should be asking my sister," the woman said pointedly.

Hector was getting frustrated; it took everything he had not to start yelling and raving. That simply would not do.

"My presence seems to frighten her greatly. I was hoping you could help me instead," the lord explained. Fiora and Oswin exchanged glances.

"Very well, I shall help you," she consented. Hector sighed in relief. For once this whole diplomatically polite thing was paying off. After breakfast, he got as much information out of Fiora about pegasii as his tired mind could handle. Shortly after, he joined Eliwood and Lyn in seeing Lady Louise and Lord Pent off to see the queen of Bern. Eliwood suggested they split up and search for information.

Lyn said something irritating, but in Hector's mind almost everything sounded irritating. They ended up doing no reconnaissance, but did lot of gadding about town. It almost made him forget he was trying to get to Florina before anything major happened.

It was too late for that, for a thick fog rolled in, bringing with it enemies. Hector was ready for battle despite his fatigue. Mark approached them as the battle was about to begin.

"While I was looking for information about the Prince and Bern, I heard that there was a small villiage to the east of here that has a staff that we'll really need," the tactician said. "I want you two to get it. Florina's the only unit fast enough to get there. And you're the only guy Huey seems to remotely like."

"Why won't you send Lyn?" Hector asked. Mark waved his hand nonchalantly.

"I have other stuff for her to do," the tactician explained vaguely. "Now, take this torch, and don't stop for anything or anyone until you get there."

The pair nodded; even Huey seemed to be in understanding of the situation. Much to Hector's surprise, without much difficulty, he climbed on Huey's back and sat behind the pegasus knight. Hector was unsure of how Florina would perform today. Huey may have been more comfortable with him, but his rider had still barely spoken a few words to him.

Without a warning, they took to the skies. The speed of the take off startled him and he grabbed on to the closest thing, which just so happened to be Florina's waist. The younger girl squeaked in surprise and Hector knew she was flushing up. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable, so he tried to ease the situation by releasing her after they stopped ascending. It only took twenty seconds for him to realize that doing so was not a good idea. Hector felt dizzy from the height and he knew he had to hold onto something, but he settled for someone and he was glad that someone he was holding onto Florina.

He could feel her breathing unsteadily, and he could see her hands trembling. He felt like a bit of a pervert doing so, though nothing provocative was happening. The fact was that she didn't want him to touch her, and if he didn't hold on, he was sure he'd probably get his equilibrium thrown off and fall to his death. Though he should have more faith that Florina would try and catch him.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I'm just not used to being up so high."

She nodded and swallowed. It was strange to him, he once thought that Florina would probably have passed out by now if any man, especially him, was this close to her. On the contrary she seemed rather calm. The sky was her element after all, he was the one who was terrified. Most men would have felt empowered with their arms around the girl they loved. Hector felt anything but; he was clinging to her for dear life. He certainly wasn't afraid of heights, just falling.

He cautiously snuck glances around into the fog. There wasn't much to see, but the feeling of the wind in his hair was exhilarating. Florina's long hair brushed past his nose. Hector had never raptured about what Florina's hair might smell like. Mostly because he would never do such a thing, and it was also because he had just realized he really cared more for the pegasus knight than he admitted before. Her hair didn't smell all that sweet and flowery, but it strongly of hay and earth. That scent in and of itself was more comforting than reeking of perfumes. The scent of the overwhelming oils made him flashback to the being introduced to the ladies of Lycia. Not only were they boring and catty, they were so condescending toward him, so he rather hated the smell of perfumes.

Hector didn't want Florina to be a quintessential lady or expect it. Florina was in an army, she trekked for hours in armor, which meant she was prone to sweat at some point during the day. Then she had sword practice and she was with a winged horse all day. The only water around was meant for drinking and not bathing. Naturally, she wasn't going to smell of roses.

The blue haired lord decided just to enjoy what little time he would have with her in his arms. Perhaps this wouldn't happen again. He held her a little tighter and focused his eyes ahead. There was something in the distance. Yes, the village was there, but there was a group of bandits coming down from the mountain, or at least he thought, he couldn't really see.

"You see that?" Hector said. Florina said nothing, but handed him the torch. He lit it quickly and placed one of is arms around Florina's waist. He still wasn't used to traveling this way. He could easily see the bandits closing in. The lord knew he could take them easily, but he couldn't maneuver the terrain.

"Florina, drop me off at the village. Can you hold of the bandits? At least until the towns people get their defenses up," he asked. She nodded and griped her sword. The pegasus knight landed just in front of the village gates and helped Hector get off Huey. She then disappeared into the fog.

Hector wasted no time, running across the misty field for the town. It must have been market day, for as he made it to the cobble stone streets, there were all manner of people out and about. No, wait Eliwood had said something about their being much preparation for the festivities of Prince Zephiel's birthday. Then Hector felt rather upset because no one had done anything like this for _his_ birthday. In Ostia they weren't impressed by growing a year older, but take out a guy twice your size and then they were astounded. Why was he in this town again? When he didn't get enough sleep, his short term memory was affected…

"Young man, are you here gadding about for a reason?" an older man asked. Hector snapped back to reality.

"Yes! Your village is going to be ambushed by bandits. My friend is holding them off, but you need to be ready incase there's another wave coming," the young lord told him. The man looked alarmed.

"Well, you heard the boy! Prepare for the worst!" he shouted to the others. As people began scurrying, the man turned back to Hector.

"Now, I can tell you're probably part of some big fancy mercenary group," he said. "We don't have much in terms of money, so as a reward for helping us, please take this Silence Staff. Give it to some cleric you think is special."

With that the older man winked and set about giving orders. Hector wanted to say that he absolutely would not be the one to give the staff to Serra, that was just like asking for death. With his assignment accomplished he left the town, and as he left the gates slammed shut behind him.

Florina was flying toward him with three stray bandits following her throwing hand axes her way. She dodged these with almost no effort, but the fact that they dared to try and hurt her made Hector's sleep deprived mind unusually unsettled. He charged into battle zeroing in on one enemy grunt and cleaving his head off. The man's blood stained the grass as the other two surrounded Hector. The lord could see Florina doubling back to help, but he was more than confident he could handle this.

The pair of thugs were no match for him. As Hector sank his deadly axe into the shoulder of one man, the other prepared to attack. What his assailant didn't expect was for Hector to remove his weapon so quickly and brashly after his friend had been struck. One good thing about the Ostian lord's unorthodox fighting style was it was near impossible to predict.

Florina landed beside him speechless as always. He smiled as she held out a vulnerary to him. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to adjust if she started talking to him, her silent communications were so endearing.

"So…what do you say we go catch up with the others?" he suggested. "I can walk back if you don't want me so close to you again."

Florina blushed profusely again and started to say something. He decided to let her stutter a bit and downed some of the bottle she had given him. She had stopped trying to speak as he went to her side and handed her back her vulnerary. The girl let out a loud audible sigh as she put it back in her pouch.

"So, walking it is?" he said. There was a long silence, Hector swore he could hear the mist swirling. Or maybe that was what was left of his lucidity floating away. He was dead tired and that small skirmish just magnified it. It was a sudden burst of anger and energy that he simply wasn't ready for. Maybe Mark knew that he was practically useless when tired so the tactician sent the two of them on a slightly quieter mission. That didn't matter, Hector was enjoying the look of Florina's beet red face that burned clearly through the fog. She shook her head and patted the space behind her. Hector took that to mean, "Take a seat."

He climbed on the pegasus and held Florina's waist as they took off. It would be a good ten to fifteen minutes getting back. That was plenty of time for a nap. He closed his eyes as Florina's long wisps of hair brushed against his face. He would forever love this smell, her smell. It was of valor, blood, metal, pegasus, hay, grass, mud and fog; everything he could relate to. Except pegasii, he had only a small and vague idea about them. Maybe he'd get a better idea of what they were all about if he asked Fiora more questions.

Hector dropped off mere moments after, and as his sleep got deeper, he ended up resting his forehead against the back of Florina's neck. He was almost certain that he would never be like this with her again, and it was a shame he had to spend the last minutes of it sleeping.

* * *

Hector was nudged awake by Florina before they made it back to the others. He was surprised to find that he was resting on her shoulder, meaning he had his cheek plastered to her shoulder armor. He sat up, groggily, the side of his face was a little sticky with sweat. The lord could see the army clearly; Oswin and Fiora had the leader of the Black Fang members cornered, and ready for interrogation. The man was a sword master, and blond. Hector was too tired to really pay attention to what Eliwood said to him as the battle began to wind down. Something about how no one here was truly evil, seeing as how the Black Fang tried to keep the villagers out of harm's way.

Hector knew that statement was a lie. Serra was in their ranks, so therefore there was some evil among their group at least. The blue haired lord knew that his only getting a few hours of sleep was really getting to him. After the Black Fang withdrew, Hector tried to find a quiet place to sleep.

"Oh, Hector!" a female voice sang. He didn't even need to guess that it was Serra. She always showed up when she wasn't wanted.

"I'm so mad at you!" she pouted as she stuck out her bottom lip. Hector was in no mood to play games, but it was too late to get out if it now.

"Why, what ever did I do to you?" he asked.

"You stole my friend! You took Florina away on a romantic rendezvous in the fog," the cleric replied. "You even took my spot on Huey's back. The nerve!"

"We were just sent to get some staff for you," he grumbled. Serra's interest was peaked.

"Really? You both are so grateful that I got you together you're rewarding my thoughtfulness with a gift?" she said. "You both are so sweet!"

"We're not together Serra. I don't know where you come up with these things," Hector snapped.

"Well, you had your arms around her so protectively and she was so red…" Serra commented. "I only drew a few conclusions."

"I was holding on to her because I got dizzy while I was up in the air and she was blushing because obviously she wasn't comfortable with it," the lord explained.

"I don't know. You two look cute together. It'd be fun to have Florina as my lady I think," she said. Hector narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth. What was she trying to say?

"Serra…" he said through clenched teeth.

"What? You don't like Florina?" the pink haired cleric said tossing her pigtails.

"Of course I like Florina," Hector replied.

"You like Florina?" another female voice chimed in. Hector was almost horrified as Lyn came up from behind him. How did girls do that? They appeared out of nowhere and jump into conversations without skipping a beat!

"That was out of context," he tried to explain.

"So, you don't like my friend?" Lyn said crossing her arms and furrowing her brow. Hector sighed, he was really exhausted now and this was getting frustrating really fast.

"I don't hate Florina at all. She's a sweet girl, I like her well enough. As a friend, of course," he clarified. He'd rather not have Lyn and Serra know he felt any more for Florina than was necessary.

"I really need to go…talk to Merlinus about my weaponry," he said. With that he took off. Man was he tired, and now he was even more edgy and irritated. He went straight for his tent and sat down. He rubbed his eyes and let out a loud yawn. Things were finally starting to wind down and he put his feet up and lay back on his cot. He stared up at the cloth ceiling of the tent. How was he going to talk to Florina?

Eliwood entered the tent shortly after and tilted his head to one side in confusion.

"Hector, what are you doing sleeping so early in the day?" the red haired lord asked.

"Eliwood, I'm tired. I had a lot of trouble sleeping," Hector said. "It's mostly because of my dreams."

"Dreams, huh? Was Florina in any of them?" Eliwood teased. Hector snorted.

"I get, I get it. Payback for waking you up this morning. I refuse to answer that question. But one of them…well if I tell you, you have to promise not to laugh," he said.

"Well, all right," Eliwood answered, a little worried about where this was going.

"There was a man who looked a lot like my father with a really long beard," the blue haired lord began. "He had a little girl on his shoulders and I think she called him 'Father' or something. He responded, 'Yes, my darling daughter.' It wasn't much but it was like a long lost memory."

"What color was the girl's hair?" Eliwood asked.

"Huh…Blue," Hector answered.

"And the man's hair?"

"Also blue."

Eliwood smirked, "That my dear friend was a vision of your own future."

The red haired man chuckled, "A big beard…"

"You laughed," Hector growled. "Well I don't think I like my future."

"Well…come on, Hector! Maybe a beard will really suit you…" Eliwood said.

"No, that's not why. I mean a boy with red hair comes later and takes her away," he told his friend. He then shot Eliwood a slight glare, and the Pharean waved his hands in defense.

"Hey, hey…now there's plenty of people with red hair! Maybe it's…Kent and Lyn's son in your dream!" Eliwood added quickly.

"Kent and Lyn?" Hector said quizzically. "Why do they like each other or something?"

"Like is an understatement," the Pharean lord replied.

"You're trying to distract me, aren't you," Hector snapped. "I'm sure it was your son. And I'll not give up my daughter."

"It couldn't be…" Eliwood protested.

"Why? He doesn't have green hair like Ninian?" the Ostian lord said. Eliwood blushed and looked to one side.

"Don't say things like that…I…Ninian and I are having a little bit of a rough spot," he confessed. Hector raised an eyebrow.

"You having trouble with the ladies? Not you, 'sweet and sensitive' Eliwood," Hector said.

"She just…she won't tell me what makes her so upset and sad. All I want to do is sweep her troubles away," he explained.

"Did you tell her all that?" Hector asked.

"Of course I did. It just…she won't tell me," Eliwood said. Hector sighed.

"Wish I knew what to do so I could help you. I'm having my own problems with women," he told Eliwood.

"Florina still won't talk to you?" the red haired lord asked. The both met eyes and let out a collective sigh.

"Well, no use in moping about it. We should _do_ something about our problems," Hector declared.

"Such is the Ostian way," Eliwood commented.

"Is there any other way to solve a problem?" the blue haired lord asked.

"Not really," his friend admitted. "So what are you going to do?"

"I need to sleep first," Hector said. Eliwood shook his head. His friend certainly had his priorities.

* * *

An hour or two later, Hector was thoroughly rested. He left the tent and began to wander around in hopes of seeing Florina. After some time walking, and much dodging all women he happened to see, he decided to hide in the stable for a while. At least then there was a three in eight chance of a woman coming and of the three women, two were people he could tolerate. Though Pricilla, for all her well meaning intentions and seemingly unassuming demeanor was a serious gossip.

He entered the stable, found Huey's stall, folded his arms and rested them on top of the railing. Placing his chin on his folded arms, he stared at the white pegasus.

"So…Florina spends hours brushing and talking to you," he began. Hector was a little mad at himself. He was reduced to talking to a flying horse, but he had to start somewhere.

"You must know the key to getting to her heart. She tells you everything and I'm sure she loves you more than me," the lord continued. "So what's the big secret?"

Huey seemed to be staring him down, scrutinizing him more than Lyn or Fiora ever could. Hector was starting to get unnerved, when Oswin and Fiora walked in. They were obviously talking about something else, but upon seeing Hector all speaking stopped. They all stared at each other for a while, before Fiora broke the ice.

"Lord Hector? I didn't think you were seriously that interested in pegasii, but you proved me wrong," Fiora said. Hector was very curious as to why she was with Oswin. It seemed they were always together somehow. Why was it that everyone who had it in for him seemed to join forces?

"Fiora…shall we continue our conversation later? I have some business to talk over with Lord Hector," Oswin told her. Fiora nodded and bowed to Hector before talking her leave. Hector gazed sullenly up at Huey. Oswin hadn't had a look on his face like that since Uther tried to force him to explain the birds and the bees to Hector. That only served to make him scarred for life.

"Lord Hector, it has become very apparent to me that you have a strong attraction to the young Florina," the knight began. Hector rolled his eyes. He was very sure Eliwood hadn't breathed a word to anyone. However, Matthew had his way of hearing everything Hector said and Matthew told Serra a lot of things and there was no way he was keeping this to himself. Of course, Serra was never quiet and she probably mentioned it to Lyn or Fiora, both of whom probably thought he was all wrong for Florina and told Oswin to do something about. Now, here was Gloomy Oswin to rain on his parade.

"I know that face. Lord Hector, I'm not here to rain on your parade," Oswin told him. "I actually think you both are very good for each other."

"If all that's true, why won't she talk to me?" Hector grumbled.

"Why haven't you talked to her?" the older man asked.

"I do talk to her, Oswin! She just never speaks. I don't see why. It's obvious I want her with me," Hector explained. Oswin laughed.

"What's so funny?" Hector snapped.

"Lord Hector, try to see things from her point of view," the knight began. "She's already shy around people, men especially. You are a very loud, pushy, big and strong man. Naturally she's intimidated. To top it off you're a lord."

"What does that have to do with anything?" the lord snapped.

"My lord, that has everything to do with this situation. There's a certain measure of caution warranted in this matter. It's a huge gamble for a vassal to fall in love with a person above their station," Oswin told him. "Don't tell me you didn't know this?"

"I don't see what the big deal is. We're all people, and we all deserve to love who ever we want," Hector replied.

"It's easy for you to say such things. You're a noble of Ostia, people will think twice about speaking against you. Though they probably will, but never to your face. Florina faces a different challenge from you. She will be scrutinized and torn apart with words," the knight said.

"Ostians don't care about things like birth and rank," Hector retorted. "It's all about what you can do."

"On the contrary, my lord, I feel you are only half right," Oswin asserted. "True, the lords of Ostia care more about what a person has done, especially on the battlefield. They'll probably prefer Florina, a seasoned warrior to a woman who is simply married to you as a trophy. Florina would breed more strong fighters, you see."

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Hector interjected.

"My point is, that Florina won't always be in your company or in the company of the lords. She will have to face the _ladies_ of both Ostia and of all Lycia. And they don't always value a woman's prowess with a spear and sword."

"That's a very broad statement Oswin. The women are exposed to plenty of female warriors. It's not fair to assume that they wouldn't value—"

"Lord Hector, think of all the times you went with your mother to meet with the Lycian ladies when you were younger. Think of all the women you have known who are warriors. How many are of nobility?"

Hector sighed, and tried to find any exception, "Only Lyn."

"And she grew up not knowing she was a noble. Hector, the world of women, especially those of nobility is a very different animal. I'm not saying Florina has looked far enough in the future to see herself in the Ostian court, but the fact that you are a noble and it is simply not her place to even have feelings for you is most likely a major part in her hesitating to talk to you."

Hector nodded sullenly, "I see."

"If you'll excuse me, I'll take my leave," Oswin said with a bow. The older man left the stable, leaving Hector alone with Huey. The lord glanced up at the pegasus.

"Did you get all that?" he asked it. "Apparently, being a lord makes me suddenly godly and untouchable. I don't care about anything except the fact that she is Florina and I love her. Everything else we can work out as it comes."

Huey snorted and nudged his arm. Why did Hector suddenly understand what this thing was trying to say?

"I already said I_have_ tried to talk to her. You were there! She just won't talk to me!" Hector snapped. "What am I doing wrong?"

Huey snorted and rested his muzzle on the door of his stall. Hector sighed and shook his head. What was he going to do? He heard a few light footsteps and a gasp. He turned to the stable's entrance to see Florina.

Hector smiled and waved, "Hey, Florina."

She flushed, bowed, mumbled something then turned on her heel and ran. Hector grumbled something about how he knew that was going to happen. Women and love were getting more and more frustrating with each day. Why was he doing this again? The smell of Florina's hair and the memory of holding her in his arms crossed his mind. Yeah…that was why.

* * *

Well…that was a chapter. Maybe someone will like it. Feel free to give criticism and stuff. I do a lot of research (yes, research) in doing these fics, but if you see something inaccurate, please say so! Especially in characterization or plot flow. I'll never get better if no one says anything.

I was debating about which version of that chapter to use (the one with Wallace or Geitz). I chose the Wallace chapter just because…well I like Wallace and fog is cool.


	9. A Voice

**Stronger**

**Chapter Nine:**

**A Voice

* * *

**

The sky was Florina's element. The wind whipping through her hair was a familiar sensation. It was no doubt that men certainly weren't something she was familiar or comfortable with. Florina wasn't entirely sure how to react to Hector's arms around her waist as she flew Huey. These were feelings of uncertainty and freedom juxtaposed. The two warriors were on the way back to the rest of the army, and Hector had fallen asleep, resting his head on her shoulder.

Her face was already bright red, and her heart was racing. She'd almost rather be fighting, that was the only time she could manage an exchange of some sort. Battle was a form of communication and she was very good at it. It wasn't verbal and she could easily dominate the exchange. If only it were so with talking to men, if only she could at least get a word in edgewise. It wasn't even like she was being drowned out, even Hector knew to try and give enough of a pause to let her speak. She couldn't speak. Not around him at least. If only there were some way she could spar with Hector. She knew he was always eager for a partner, but she was too afraid to ask him.

Hector rested his head against her shoulder; she turned slightly only to see that he had fallen asleep. Sleeping Hector didn't scare her much…

"Slow down a bit, Huey," she said. The pegasus did as he was told. Florina released one hand from the reins and carefully ran her shaky fingers over Hector's sleeve. He hadn't stirred; it seemed that he could sleep like a rock. She gulped and moved her hand to run her fingers through his hair. Hector grunted and Florina squeaked in fear and put her hands back on the reigns. The lord breathed deeply and Florina held her breath.

"Eliwood…you better not be messing up my hair again…wasn't even funny the first time…" he mumbled. She sighed in relief; at least he didn't know it was her. Florina knew she had better just enjoy being this close to Hector as best she could. It would probably never happen again, so she could never get used to it…but she could pretend.

* * *

Florina had landed with Hector back in camp hours ago. She retired to her tent almost as soon as she gotten there and had tried to appear asleep, but her mind was a buzz with something, she wasn't sure. Her face was bright red and she closed her eyes and imagined Hector's arms around her again.

Florina curled up tighter on her cot. What was wrong with her? She could hardly even breathe around Hector much less formulate a full sentence. That wasn't how she should feel around someone she loved. She should feel comfortable around him. Florina wanted more than _anything_ to feel at ease with Hector. Would he have the patience for her? She doubted it, and this hopeless situation only made her feel like crying. It wasn't long before the tears came, and she sobbed into her hands.

She knew she should give up on Hector. He had far more important things to worry about than her. Florina rubbed her nose knowing by now it would be bright red, and her face would be pink and splotchy. For her own sanity she knew she had to give up Hector, and no matter how much it hurt her to think about moving on, she knew she had to. First loves didn't last, though…she only wished she had at least talked to him before she gave up.

"Oh, Florina!" a shrill voice cried. Serra had entered her tent rather unceremoniously. Florina only wished it hadn't been now when she was feeling so depressed. It was obvious Serra hadn't been expecting to find Florina in such a state. Serra walked to her side and sat on the edge of the cot.

"Hey, what's wrong?" she asked. Florina was in no mood to play games and she didn't respond. Serra placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"You know what? I think a princess lesson is just what you need to cheer you up!" Serra declared trying to lighten the mood.

Florina pulled away from Serra and put her pillow over her head, "Forget it, I just can't do it. I can't be like you."

Then came the uncharacteristic silence. Florina was grateful for it, though she was a bit worried about what was going through her friend's mind right then.

"You know, not everyone can be like me, I'm a descendent of Etruian nobility you know," she said. Florina peeked a red rimmed eye from under her pillow. Was she serious, or just trying to get a reaction?

"Really?"

"Yes," Serra continued. "Nobility has a certain air that naturally others cannot imitate."

"I knew it. You were always just so opinionated and not afraid to just pop up and say what was on your mind…" Florina commented.

"What does any of that have to do with me being a noble?" Serra asked.

"I don't know. But I admire you for it," Florina answered. "You can do all the things that I can't do. Maybe…you should go after Lord Hector. I mean, you're a noble and all, everything will work out for you two, right?"

Serra's face lost all its smugness and turned into an expression of pure annoyance. "You mean, you're sad because of Lord Hector? Because you think you're not good enough for him or something?" she inquired. Florina didn't answer, but pulled her pillow over her face. The pink haired cleric jumped up and pulled Florina out of her cot.

"Get up! We're going for a walk," Serra cried.

"I…I don't want to—"

Serra paid her no mind and dragged her out of the tent and Florina made little effort to stop her.

"I can't believe you got so worked up over a man! Especially Lord Hector!" Serra scolded as they walked at a breakneck pace through the camp. "You deserve someone far more patient and kind than him. In fact, _he_ should be fretting about whether or not he deserves you."

"But, Serra…he's nobility…" Florina protested. "And please don't be so loud, people can hear you."

"Oh, they don't pay attention to me most of the time anyway," Serra replied, brushing away her friend's concern. "Being a noble, or even royalty can't make you a better person. They're still people like you and me. They need to be knocked down a peg or two just like anyone else. Just because they have the means to be with someone doesn't always mean they should be with them. What I'm telling you Florina is just because you're a vassal doesn't make you any less deserving of Lord Hector. And just because he's a higher station than you doesn't mean that he automatically warrants your affection."

"I know that. That's not why I love him, Serra," Florina replied softly. Serra stopped and turned to stare at Florina. True, she had barely heard the girl speak, but Serra swore she heard the "L" word.

"We need to go farther away from camp," she said. Florina nodded and went along with Serra, this time more willingly. Once a sufficient distance away Serra smirked and crossed her arms.

"Did you say that you 'love' Lord Hector?" Serra asked. Florina blushed, and nodded.

"Well…I don't think he's worthy…" the cleric said.

"Why not?" Florina said, twisting the hem of her skirt anxiously. Serra rolled her eyes.

"He's an idiot," she said. "He's rude, he's pushy, he's stubborn…shall I continue?"

"Serra, I…I know all those things. I know he has many faults. But he's just…he will do anything to protect his friends. He's loyal and he cares for everyone despite their station. True, he's stubborn but when its for the right cause that can be a good thing," Florina explained. "Besides…all men are idiots, there's no changing that."

Serra was so taken aback by Florina's speech (followed up with a joke, at that!) that she could only respond by laughing. Florina smiled brightly and gave Serra a hug. Serra was initially shocked by the contact, but only started to laugh harder.

"Oh, Florina, you're too much," Serra said in between giggles.

"I'm really glad I worked up the courage to talk to you. I couldn't ask for a better friend. I hope we stay together for a long time," Florina replied.

"Of course!" Serra told her returning the embrace. "We'll be even closer once you're my lady."

Florina drew away from the hug and grinned sheepishly, "I thought you said Hector wasn't good enough for me."

"Well…he can work his way into my good favor. But I'm thinking Lord Uther is more your type," Serra said. Florina blushed a deep red, but laughed anyway.

"You know, Serra, you sound a lot like my sister," Florina told the cleric.

"I don't know whether that's a good thing or a bad thing," Serra replied.

"Well…you're not like Fiora, you're more like Farina," she clarified.

Serra blinked in confusion, "You have another sister?"

"Yes, Farina, she's a year younger than Fiora. But…I haven't seen her in ages."

Serra smiled, "Well, I can be your other sister until Farina returns."

The two girls went giggling back into camp arm in arm.

* * *

Lord Pent and Lady Louise didn't come back for two days, and Hector was getting antsy. Florina could tell by the way would barge around camp from tent to tent constantly in search of Matthew. What he didn't seem to realize that she was always right behind him always looking for an opening, hoping to catch a moment to talk to him. Even though, in that day alone there were probably fourteen chances (she was keeping count) for her to open her mouth and speak, the words never came, so she pulled further and further back until she was watching him from a safe distance.

When Hector was irritated he intimidated Florina more than when he was in his usual mood. He wasn't to be irritated for long however, as Matthew arrived and handed him a piece of paper he was very glad to see. In a few minutes, Mark, Eliwood and Lyndis called a meeting together and Florina could only imagine what important matters they could be speaking of.

She decided to distract herself by doing something she knew she knew she had to do, like washing Huey. It was common practice among pegasus knights to forgo baths especially when there was obviously no time to do so, but they were known for spoiling their pegasi. Florina was quick to indulge Huey, especially since she had become a falcoknight. He needed that extra care to continue fighting hard. As she prepared the water for his bath she saw Ninian go into the stable. Florina smiled thinking that perhaps her friend was going to talk to Huey, he seemed to be a confidant for anyone who was close to her.

'I'd rather they confide in me…' Florina thought. She recalled Lord Hector had even taken to talking with Huey. A smile spread across her face as she began to lug her bucket and brush over to the stable. If only Huey could say exactly what Hector had talked to him about. Florina sighed; Huey was too good a confidant to reveal anything he had been told. As Florina was about to enter, she heard sobbing from inside. Though she was certain of who was crying, she had to look anyway, just to be sure.

"I'll bet you already know my secret," Ninian began. Florina quietly moved so that she could get a better view of her friend. Ninian was leaning on the top of the stable door and petting Huey's nose.

"You're far more in tune with things of this sort than anyone else, aren't you, Huey?" she continued. "Though you are a different species, you can accept me for who I am. He and I are just as different and yet…I know he could never…he could never…"

Florina took a deep, silent breath and held it. What was she talking about?

"He could never love a dragon like me…"

Florina was shocked at that revelation so much so that she dropped her bucket and the water pooled around her boots. Ninian looked up, alarmed.

"Who's there?" she asked. "Show yourself!"

Florina stepped out from her hiding place, her eyes wide her mouth agape.

"Ninian…" she began. The dancer began to cry even harder and turned to run away, but Florina was much faster and caught her in her arms before Ninian could get too far.

"Don't cry!" Florina told her. She never thought she'd be saying that to anyone. "Let's…let's go to our tent so we can talk all about this. Explain everything to me."

She wrapped her arm around her friend's shoulder and tried to walk through the camp unnoticed. Unfortunately for Florina, Eliwood was madly in love with Ninian, so going completely unnoticed was impossible. He seemed to have a sixth sense for when Ninian was sad and found them. Florina inwardly groaned. Why did he have to play valiant prince now?

"Ninian, is everything all right?" Eliwood asked, taking Ninian's hand. The green haired girl was much too distraught to respond properly. He cupped her cheek gently and wiped at her tears with his free hand. Florina stiffened, knowing that for Ninian, now was the worst time for such contact with Eliwood. She had to get her friend away from him. How on earth was she going to pry Ninian away from the man who loved her so much? Florina's heart raced but she squared her shoulders, puffed out her chest and did her best impression of Serra.

"E-exucse me Lord Eliwood," she said, grabbing Ninian forcibly by the shoulders. "N-now is not the best time f-for Ninian to talk."

With that she pulled the dancer away and walked at break neck speed back to the stable.

"W-where…?" Ninian began. Florina shook her head.

"We need someplace to talk where no one will hear us," she explained. "We're going for a ride above the camp on Huey."

Ninian nodded as Florina took her pegasus out of the stable and saddled him up. Ninian was helped on first and then Florina followed. Within minutes they were circling above the camp with nothing but the wind to hear them.

"So…you're a dragon. Does that mean…Nils is a dragon as well?" Florina began.

"Yes. We're actually both half dragon, but we are still capable of taking a dragon's form," Ninian explained. "Our mother was an ice dragon, our father was a human. I…don't remember him all that well."

Florina was silent for a while and Ninian sniffed miserably.

"You already know my stance on ice dragons," Florina said finally. "I stayed up all night and suffered an illness just to meet one and now I finally have. It's fate that we met, and it's fate that I found out your secret first. I won't tell anyone else, not until you're ready."

"Florina…you really are a great friend," Ninian replied. "Oh, please don't let Nils know that you found out. He's very secretive about our past."

"I understand."

Ninian sighed, wrapped her arms around Florina's waist to steady herself and rested her chin on her friend's shoulder.

"It was foolish of me to entertain such feelings for Lord Eliwood. He and I are of two different species so there's just no chance. It just won't work," she lamented.

"It worked for your parents," Florina said. "And if we're using your logic, you're half human. So that's half a chance right there. Half a chance is better than none. Take me for example, I have no chance of even talking to Lord Hector much less getting him to fall in love with me."

"You're in love with Lord Hector?"

Florina sighed deeply in frustration, "Yes…"

Ninian giggled, "Well, if we're still using my logic, you're both human so there's a chance it will work."

"A snowball's chance in hell maybe," Florina added softly. Ninian squeezed her friend's waist slightly.

"A snowball can survive in hell when in the hands of an ice dragon. You have a chance, Florina," the dancer said reassuringly. Florina sniffed, trying to fight tears. She wasn't sure why she was crying, but right then--ice dragon or not--she was glad Ninian was her friend.

When Ninian and Florina finally landed, the camp was a buzz with activity. Florina helped Ninian off Huey's back and gave her friend a hug.

"You shouldn't worry too much, Ninian. I'm sure a lot of good will come to you," she said. Ninian sighed and smoothed her skirts.

"I hope you're right," she said softly. The two of them headed toward their shared tent when they ran into Lyn.

"Ah, good you two are back from your ride," she said. "If you haven't noticed, we're moving out tonight."

Ninian tilted her head in confusion and Florina grimaced a bit.

"Tonight?" Florina began. "Where are we going?"

"There's a band of thieves that Hector suspects may have stolen the Fire Emblem," Lyn explained. "We're going to apprehend them. Of course, this is a two day trek and Lady Louise and Lord Pent are not yet returned."

Florina could tell by Lyn's tone and the way she trailed off into a series of muttered Sacean curses that her friend did not agree with Hector's decision.

"I'm sure Lord Hector has done his homework Lyn. He wouldn't move the entire army unless there was a reasonable chance of this information being true," Florina asserted.

Lyn smirked and crossed her arms, "Serra was right; you make a lot of excuses for Hector."

"I-I do not!" Florina said blushing. Ninian said nothing but bit her lip to suppress a giggle.

"I'm going to let you guys get ready to leave," Lyn said with a wave. Florina waved and set about packing up the tent and getting Huey ready for travel. Even though she trusted Hector's reasoning, that didn't make the task of moving on so abruptly any easier. If this information was wrong, then it would only be more troublesome. Florina tried to keep a positive outlook and hoped for the best.

* * *

The march was fairly uneventful. The terrain was easy to travel, they weren't ambushed, and they were well stocked on provisions so there was no threat of starvation. Florina flew above everyone, watching others in the army chatter amiably. Most of the time she was watching Hector though she tried to distract herself with other people.

"There's got to be some way I can approach him, Huey," she said. "I just can't seem to make my brain and my mouth cooperate ever."

She lay across Huey's neck and sighed deeply. She _could_ speak to men. She didn't mind talking to Kent, Sain, Wil, Lucius and even Eliwood if she had to. Oswin wasn't so bad she was finding. She could have a conversation with men. It was Hector that was the problem. She couldn't understand what made it so hard for her to speak to him even just a little bit. She wanted him to know that she wasn't weak, that she couldn't be judged by the volume of her words. She had to prove that to him or else she didn't deserve him at all.

They arrived at their destination with time to spare. Mark set about planning a raid and sent Heath and Fiora to scout the area from above for him. Most were free to mill about as they pleased. Unfortunately for Florina, Hector felt very invested in the success of this escapade and was holed up in the tent with Mark. Still she had made it her resolve to speak to Hector—really talk with him—before the end of the march back to meet Lady Louise and Lord Pent. She had to.

"If I don't do this now Huey, I'll never talk to him," she said. He was silent but Florina knew even her pegasus knew the truth: this was going to be a make or break situation. "I'll worry about this a little later though. We're going to be going into battle soon and I can't be too distracted."

She glanced up at the sky as she saw Fiora and Heath returning. Florina rather hoped that Fiora would have a bit of time to spare before the battle began, she really wanted to have a word with her sister. They both had been preoccupied with other matters during the past few days and hadn't spoken much. It seemed that this was not to be a luxury that they could afford. Right after Fiora and Heath confirmed Mark's maps, did he announce that they were going to go right into battle.

Florina was assigned to work with Hector as usual and she settled beside him to await Mark's direction. Fiora and Oswin were positioned beside them. Florina thanked Elimine that Fiora was nearby.

"Fiora…is it true that there are three fortresses?" she asked her sister.

"Yes. From what Oswin has told me of the plan we have to seize all three in order to find the Fire Emblem," Fiora explained. Florina looked down at her reigns.

"Fiora…I know we can do this but…wouldn't it be much easier if we had Farina here as well?" Florina said. "You could take the east fortress, Farina would take the west and I could take the north."

Fiora snorted and shook her head. "There's no use in talking about her. We're quite capable of completing this mission on our own."

Florina wisely dropped the conversation. Farina was still a sore subject with Fiora. She could understand why, Farina wasn't always her favorite person either. Still she missed her sister when things got tough. This could potentially be a difficult situation. If they only got to two of the fortresses in time, the third would be informed and evacuate the area, with possibly enough time to get the Fire Emblem out of range. Mark had to have a plan, even if it relied on happenstance he always had a way out.

"Hector, you and Florina prioritize taking the north castle. I'm thinking the leader of this operation is there," Mark explained. "I'll be sending Dorcas and Bartre with you."

Florina understood what she was asked and followed Hector. Perhaps now was the time to break the ice, make a witty remark, but nothing came and she followed in silence, her spear poised for action. They neared the first barricade and several cavaliers were coming their way. Florina threw her javelin at one approaching enemy and Bartre threw a hand axe at the other. As if on cue, Hector and Dorcas pushed ahead of them and finished the job.

The first wave was defeated without too much damage to themselves. It was the second wave of cavaliers that brought challenges. It came much sooner than any of hem had anticipated.

"We need reinforcements," Hector said. "This is just a little too much for us to handle."

Florina didn't say anything, but only thought that it would be a little easier if only…

"Hey! Hello down there!" a loud voice called. Florina blinked. Of all the random things to happen, a falcoknight descended from above, and it wasn't just any falcoknight.

"Farina?" she said as her sister landed near Hector. Of course, her voice was much too soft and he didn't hear her.

"You look like you're in charge here," she said. "And it looks like you all could use another lance around here."

"We're kind of in the middle of a battle," Hector replied.

"Then I'll make this quick. I'm yours for 20,000 gold."

Florina winced. That was way higher than what a pegasus knight should ask for. She couldn't let Hector pay that much. She cleared her throat.

"L-Lord Hector," she began. "You don't have to—"

"That's way too much," Hector said, shouldering his axe. "I've got to get back, or else we're really going to be in trouble."

"Oh come on, that covers everything!" Farina continued. "My medical expenses, my food, compensation for my family in case I die…"

Florina couldn't waste her time trying to get a word in edgewise, Bartre and Dorcas were fighting alone and needed help. She rushed into battle and pulled out her horse slaying lance, hoping to help tip the battle in their favor. She got to the scene just in time to see Dorcas get struck head on by a group of cavaliers that had cornered him. She rushed in, and plunged his spear into one and held out her hand to Dorcas.

"Get on and stay with me!" she cried. He wordlessly climbed onto her pegasus and Florina and Bartre found themselves outnumbered. To make matters worse she saw archers closing in from the east.

"Get back here, Lord Hector," she heard Dorcas grumble behind her.

"Hang in there," Florina told him.

Florina raised her lance, prepared for the next onslaught. She was relieved when it never came. Farina and Hector barreled through some of the cavaliers and that was enough to create a bit of a lull, enough for Hector to press ahead and take on the knight at the entrance of the fortress. Hector bested the knight easily, with nothing else to distract him. Florina breathed a sigh of relief as they all grouped around Hector.

"I've got to take Dorcas to a healer," she said. Hector shook his head.

"You stay with me, let the new recruit earn her money's worth," he told her. Florina nodded and helped Dorcas off her pegasus.

"Take care of him, Farina," she said smiling over at her sister. Farina only stared at her blankly before grinning and taking off. Hector, Florina and Bartre took a moment to relax while things were quiet.

"So…do all pegasus knights know each other?" Bartre asked, breaking the silence. Florina flushed a little and laughed.

"The three of us know each other very well," she answered softly. Hector smirked and nudged her a little.

"You're awfully chatty today," he said. Florina smiled and scratched her head.

"I…I uh…I…s-sorry if I'm talking too much…sorry…" she stammered. Florina sighed exasperatedly. She said something to him, but it still wasn't much of a conversation. She rubbed Huey's ears before they moved to the south were the eastern castle stood to provide back up.

"I don't think I can do it, Huey," she whispered to her pegasus. "I really don't think I can say anything to him…"

Huey nickered and pulled lightly at his reigns.

* * *

Most mistook Huey to be a witless winged horse. However, a pegasus is highly in tune with its rider, more so than even horses at times. Huey didn't understand all the complexities of human relationships, but he knew enough to know that Florina cared about Hector and from what he could gather from the times Hector came to talk to him, Hector liked Florina too. He couldn't see what kept her from speaking to Hector.

The battle had ended with no success. The Fire Emblem wasn't in any of the three fortresses and Hector was understandably upset. As Florina finished feeding Huey, the pegasus turned over a plan of action in his head. The only way to get those two to talk was to forcibly put them together with no way out. He wandered into the camp looking for Hector. It wasn't hard to find him.

"That was a complete waste of time and money," Hector was telling Eliwood. "I wish we had accomplished something, anything."

"Well…we have a new recruit, so it's not entirely a lost cause," Eliwood said, offering a glimmer of hope. Hector grumbled, and was about to storm ahead, when Huey grabbed him by the fabric of his cloak.

"What on earth…?" Eliwood began. Hector grinned and patted Huey's muzzle.

"What's going on, big guy?" he said. "I thought Florina tied you down for the evening."

Huey pulled and dragged him along.

"Hey, what are you doing?" Hector snapped.

"I think he's trying to tell you something," Eliwood said between laughs.

"I can see that!" Hector said.

"Why don't you follow him, and we'll talk about this later," Eliwood said waving him away. Hector grit his teeth and shook his head.

"This had better be good," he said. Huey only pulled harder, ripping his cloak.

"Hey, you're ruining my clothes, get over here!" he cried. "You can't just ruin my 'peasant' look without expecting repercussions!"

Huey pulled harder which made the tear bigger and Hector only more upset. If he got loud enough Florina would come. If there was one thing that Huey was confident in it was that Florina would stand up for him.

"Listen you crazed beast! I've got half a mind to pluck all of your feathers and make ladies' fans for the entire Ostian court!"

"E-Excuse me!" Florina cried running to the rescue. Huey snorted; just as planned. She came over and Huey released Hector's torn cloak. She held Huey's muzzle and pressed her cheek against his neck.

"D-did…did this…ah…Did Huey do something wrong?" she said.

"Your pegasus just grabbed onto my cloak and dragged me away from an important conversation with Eliwood," he cried. "To make it worse, he ripped it. That damn flapping horse is going to regret the day he was—"

"No he won't! If you're going to punish anyone, punish me! I'm the one who didn't tie him down right!" she shouted. Huey started a little himself; it had been a long time since Florina raised her voice outside of battle. Hector stared at her for a while in silence before smirking and crossing his arms.

"So you can speak. And loud too," he said.

"Pardon?" she said her eyes finally meeting his.

"We've been around each other for months and we've never spoken really. I asked Lyn about it and she told me I was a big lunk head and I should stay away from you. Can you imagine that?"

She laughed and turned red. Huey silently wondered if Florina realized that this was her chance. She'd never have a better opportunity to talk to Hector than now.

"Um…Lord Hector?" she began.

"Yeah?" he said.

"Um…the first time we met…you saved me. And I…I've been trying for the longest but I…I just wanted to say thank you," she said. Hector raised an eyebrow.

"Me saving you?" he said.

"Yes. In Caelin, Huey fell on top of you?" Florina offered trying to jog his memory. He shook his head.

"No, don't remember that."

Florina flushed and bit her lip, "Ah…I see. I'm sorry…"

"Hey, don't have that sad look on your face, I was just kidding you," he said. "I remember! Who can forget being crushed by that witless wonder of a flying horse? Really, he's much heavier than he looks."

She smiled and he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"It seems you are always getting into trouble. I need you to stay by my side so I can look out for you," he said. Florina sniffed and her bottom lip trembled.

"Hey…you know I don't like sniffling…" he said squeezing her shoulder reassuringly. Florina laughed as the tears came and Huey couldn't have been happier to see her smile. Unfortunately for them, this moment was not to last; Farina rounded the corner and all she saw was her sister crying and a really big man standing over her.

"You! Lord Hector! What do you think you're doing?" she shouted storming over. She grabbed Hector's collar and snarled.

"What the hell?" he snapped. "Let me go right now, or so help me—"

"You can insult me and make me work until I collapse, but you don't pay me enough for me to just let you bully my little sister!" Farina cried, cutting him off.

"Your sister?" he said.

"Farina, stop! He wasn't doing anything wrong!" Florina said grabbing her sister's arm. Farina released him and turned to her sister.

"Look, Florina I know he's a high powered lord, but if he's hurting you—"

"Hector is my _friend_, Farina," Florina told her. "H-he…he wasn't hurting me, he just made me so happy that I…I cried that's all. You know how I am…"

Farina furrowed her brow and looked from her sister and back to Hector. She marched over to him narrowed her eyes.

"I've got my eye on you," she said, jabbing a menacing finger in his face and then walked away. Hector stared after Farina for a while and scratched his head in confusion.

"I-I'm sorry…" Florina said, her face bright red. "I should…can I fix your cloak for you? You still need to wear it while you're…"

He smiled, "I think that's a good idea."

"I've got to put Huey away," she said.

"I'll wait by the fire, all right? Maybe you can warn me before another one of your sisters pops up unannounced."

She nodded and waved as he walked away. Once she was sure Hector was a good enough distance away, Florina hugged Huey's neck.

"Thank you, Huey," she whispered.

* * *

This has been a long time coming. *grins sheepishly*


	10. Companions

**Stronger**

**Chapter Ten  
Companions

* * *

**

Hector would have never guessed that he would someday be sitting by the fire with Florina. She wasn't exactly pouring her heart out, he never expected her to do that. She was quietly sitting beside him sewing up the tear in his cloak, listening as he explained why their latest mission was a failure and nodding at appropriate times. The thing was, she was near him, without fear. She was still uneasy, but at least she wasn't running away. Things could only get better from there. Even though he was doing most of the talking, Hector found it a little comforting to realize that he didn't have to tell Florina to shut up and listen because she was actually doing that already. If he was patient enough, maybe she might start to talk a little more. She already seemed to be a bit more talkative than usual.

"So…Florina…" he said. "You have any more sisters I should know about?"

Florina became suddenly very occupied with her sewing and grinned sheepishly, "Just Fiora and Farina."

"Older siblings are a pain sometimes. They're always doing things better than you and telling you what to do," Hector said as he reclined on the grass.

"I…I know. But it's…nice sometimes too," she said and darted her eyes at him. He looked up at the sky.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Hector said after a while.

"I don't know what I'd do without Fiora."

He snorted and put his hands behind his head, "I wouldn't know what to do without Uther either. You should meet him. You'd like him."

Florina flushed and shook her head, "I-I don't think…I mean he's…"

She pricked her finger and hunched her shoulders as she popped it in her mouth.

"…Mm shorry…" she said, looking down. Hector sat up and took the cloak and needle from her.

"Well, I'm distracting you," he said. "Let me try. This sewing business doesn't look too hard."

Florina looked over at him, her cheeks still pink, but a slight smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. He threaded the needle again and carefully stuck it in the fabric.

"This doesn't seem right," he said.

"You're um…you're starting the seam too far…" she said.

"So, here?"

Florina giggled, "No, you want it there."

She pointed to where the seam should be, near her neater stitches.

"Oh, I see," he said. He started to make a few clumsy stitches. He hoped Eliwood wouldn't catch him sewing, but it would be worth it even if he did because he had gotten Florina to laugh.

"I never thought I'd see the day Lord Hector did anything remotely quiet or domestic," Serra said. Hector glared at her as she sat beside Florina. He finally got a moment with Florina and she was _speaking_ to him and then _she_ had to come.

"My, my, sewing? You're really bad at it," Serra said leaning over Florina to see what he had done.

"Well, if you let Florina finish teaching me, maybe I won't be so bad."

"See it's that bad attitude that makes me second guess your worth as Florina's lover," Serra said. Florina drew her breath in sharply.

"Serra…" she said in a tiny voice. Her blush crept up her neck all the way to her hairline. Serra only tossed a pigtail and eyed Hector.

"I mean it. You'd better treat her right," Serra said.

"Serra. don't…"

"You're making her uncomfortable," Hector said.

"I'm making a point," Serra replied. Florina looked down, her hair hid her expression from Hector's view. He saw her shoulders stiffen and she grabbed his cloak out if his hands and ran off. He stared after her for a moment before he turned to Serra in a rage.

"Why the hell did you scare her off for?" Hector shouted. No way she was just getting away with that. No way under Elimine's blue skies.

She didn't answer right away, she looked off into the fire and twirled her hair.

"Answer me! Why did you do that to her?" he cried. Serra narrowed her eyes at him in an expression he couldn't quite read. He had never seen her so serious before.

"Do you like Florina?" she asked.

"Of course I do," he replied.

"Be careful, Hector. Don't hurt her," Serra said in a solemn voice. Her tone was so soft, Hector was taken back. She looked back at the fire and drew her knees up to her chest.

"I would die before I ever did anything to hurt Florina," he said.

"You're right, you will. If I don't Lightning you to a crisp, Fiora is pretty good with a spear and Farina is pretty good with a sword. Let's not forget Lyn would be there to get whatever we missed."

"What is with you? I'm not a monster, I know how to talk to people! Florina and I were fine until you came."

"Florina isn't just any person. You can't deal with her the same way you deal with just anyone, you should know that by now," Serra said, irritation creeping into her voice. Hector felt his temper skyrocket, but he clenched his fist and took a deep breath. Quite a few deep breaths. No point in flying into a rage in front of Florina's close friend.

"Trying to get Florina to talk to me was the most frustrating thing I've ever done. Waiting on her nearly killed me," he said. "But it taught me a degree of patience. Excuse me now, I have to make sure Florina's not too upset."

He got up and walked in the direction of Ninian and Florina's shared tent and Serra blinked wide eyed and some what stunned.

"Florina may have had to work up the courage to talk to him," she said standing up and brushing off her dress. "But Hector had to slow down long enough to listen."

* * *

In the morning after breakfast and a meeting with Lyn and Eliwood Hector found his cloak on his cot repaired. He ran his finger over the fine stitches that held the tear together. Florina's rough yet slender fingers had quickly adapted from attacking to the fine detail work of sewing. He threw his cloak over his shoulders and set off to go find her. He had to make sure she was still talking to him and that Serra hadn't scared her off.

It took him a while, but he found her talking with Lyn and Farina. She looked dreadfully embarrassed sitting in between the two of them as they seemed to be talking animatedly. He knew that he should save her from that situation, yet at the same time, he was fearful for his own safety. Farina already didn't like him and Lyn…well she was very prone to misinterpreting anything he said. Florina's face swayed him. Only Florina would make him go right into a lions' den like that.

He walked toward her putting his best foot forward. She looked up at him and smiled. Hector never thought he'd see the day Florina was relieved to see a man, but he was glad if it was anyone it was him.

"Good morning, Lord Hector," she said. He knew that once his presence was acknowledged Farina and Lyn would be glaring daggers his way. He was fortunate that Lyn wasn't upset with him (for once) and greeted him amiably. Farina only gave him a cold glance. Florina stood up and wringing her hands walked over to him.

"I um…I-I see you got your cloak back," she said. "I did my best, but it…it won't last so…"

"It's okay, I don't need it to last," he said. "But I do need you to come and discuss an issue I noticed with your armor with Merlinus."

"I didn't…" it took her moment to realize that he was trying to rescue her. "Oh…um…yes I'll come with you."

She waved to Lyn and Farina and as soon as they were no longer within eye shot she let out a deep sigh of relief.

"Thank you," she whispered. He put an arm around her shoulders and messed up her hair a bit.

"Any time," he said.

"So…what are the plans for our stay in Bern?" she asked.

Hector shrugged, "Eliwood, Lyn and I are planning on sneaking up into the Bern fortress."

Florina's eyes widened and she looked up at him. He couldn't help but notice what a nice shade of icy blue her eyes were. He never really noticed before.

"If you need me in any way, please do not hesitate to ask," she said.

Hector grinned. It was nice to have someone who was supportive of everything he did, and not critical.

"You're too sweet for your own good," he said. She blushed and twirled a lock of her hair. He smirked and nudged her. She hunched her shoulders, but her smile grew.

"I've got to meet Eliwood and Lyn soon," he said.

"Please be careful," she said.

"I will, who else is going to look out for you if I don't?"

He waved to her as he left. Hector couldn't help but miss his normal cape. It was so much cooler than this old one. It had such a dramatic flow when he walked. He looked over his shoulder. Florina waved to him and gave him an unguarded grin. Suddenly what cape he was wearing wasn't so important.

* * *

After narrowly escaping the Bern Castle, Hector, Eliwood and Lyn were met with a whole new set of problems. Nils had been captured by a wyrvern rider. They were fortunate that she was more interested in drawing them out than in hurting him. Mark instantly set to work, adjusting his glasses.

"We have to get to the others. But as long as that wyrvern woman watching us, we're in danger," he said. "That's why we need to give one of you a bit of a boost."

Hector grinned as he saw Mark pull out the Heaven's Seal. He had seen what happened to others when they used their magical upgrades. After using her Elysian Whip, Florina was easily the fastest flying unit they had. Farina was close, but Florina was still his first choice. Perhaps he was a bit biased. He was waiting for the day he'd get his hands on a power up.

Mark headed straight to Lyn with the Heaven's Seal. Hector wished he could hide his disappointment. Who cared right? After all, Lyn probably needed the boost. She was fast but her strength could use some work. He flinched after he thought that and Lyn eyed him suspiciously. Great, now he couldn't even guard his thoughts from crazy women. What did he do to deserve this?

Hector found that he couldn't wallow in self pity for long. Mark went right to work, "Pent, Louise, head back toward the armory and the general store. Stock up on supplies. Whatever you can't hold, send to Merlinus. Eliwood and Hector, cover Pent and Louise should they run into trouble. Lyn, you and I will work our way back to the others. I'll send Florina and Heath to come get you all. So stay put."

That last sentence was directed at him, Hector knew it. Eliwood always followed Mark's instructions to the letter. Lyn raised her eyebrows at them and she followed Mark along the rocky mountain pass.

"Well it seems we have an assignment to do my lords. We shall see you both again shortly," Louise said with a wave. Eliwood waved back as the two of them ran toward the shops. Hector rolled his eyes. Eliwood was so overly congenial sometimes.

"What's with the sour face, Hector?" he asked. Hector grimaced and shook his head. Eliwood raised his eyebrows.

"I know it must be tough without Florina around, but I'm sure you'll manage with just me," he said. Hector glared at him at first, but Eliwood's over congeniality did have this way of making it impossible to even pretend to be annoyed with him. Hector punched him lightly in the arm and Eliwood feigned injury.

"I'm kind of jealous of you, to be honest," Eliwood said. "Your relationship with Florina finally seems to be taking off."

"Things still bad with you and Ninian?" Hector said. "That's unusual. You're quite the charmer from what I remember."

"Shut up, Hector. Just because I danced with all those girls at that _one_ party," Eliwood rubbed his forehead and shut his eyes tight. "I'm getting off the subject. Well, it's not bad. She lets me hold her close and comfort her, but she pulls away a lot. I don't know what's wrong."

"She still won't tell you?" Hector said. That worried him a bit. What did she have to hide? He might have asked Eliwood what he thought, but four wyrverns caught his eye. He readied his axe for battle and Eliwood drew his rapier. They were at a bit of a disadvantage. All they could do was wait for the wyrverns to strike. They neared all at once. Hector was rushed by three at once. He hefted the weight of his axe onto this shoulder before heaving it with all the force he could summon at one wyrvern. He managed to sever the wing of that one. He focused on the other two. Eliwood had just felled his foe and would be coming to his aid soon. He swung for one rider and missed as the wryvern took to the air.

No sooner did it ascend out of reach was it struck by an arrow. Lady Louise was closing in from some distance away. Eliwood removed his sword from the hide of another wyrvern. Just when they thought they could take a rest, another four showed up.

Louise snorted, "Won't back down, eh?"

She twirled an arrow and shot one down before it could even take off from its perch on the rock ledge above. Another started to fly nearer, but its body erupted in flames before it got too close. Pent was coming, and Hector couldn't have been more grateful. Finishing the other two wryverns wasn't much of task. Another set of four wryverns came.

"This is getting a bit ridiculous," Eliwood said. Louise plucked one off again, but before Pent could cast another Elfire, Florina and Heath swooped down from the clouds and took out the rest of the oncoming warriors.

"More are on their way," Heath said.

"Take Pent and Louise back to the others. Hector and I can hold our own," Eliwood said. Hector nodded in agreement. Florina's gaze lingered on him before she helped Louise onto Huey's back. She looked over her shoulder at him as they took to the sky. Four more. He hadn't been hit yet, but the relentless wave of soldiers was getting overwhelming. He crouched down in a battle position. He couldn't show signs of weakness, not now. He had to prove he deserved a Heaven's Seal. They were rushed again, this time Hector's side was grazed by a spear. The gash stung and bled, but it didn't impede his movements, and he took out his opponents.

Heath and Florina were coming into view. Hector was somewhat relieved, but couldn't help but feel somewhat inadequate. How could he not easily defeat a few wyrverns? He had to prove he was in no way winded. He looked off down the rocky ravine and saw the wryvern leader perched like a proud eagle glaring down at them. Deciding he was worthless. He took off running down the ravine toward her.

"Hector wait!" Eliwood cried. No more words were exchanged, Hector had already rushed out of earshot. No one would stop him. He could easily take her out.

"Hector!" Florina cried, flying just ahead of him.

"Don't try to stop me. I have to do this," he said. Her concerned expression didn't change, though it seemed she was searching for words. She eased behind him. He sighed. Finally, someone who understood that he needed to be let go. She understood that he had to ––

He felt something hit his back with extreme force. He fell forward, his face hitting the grass. He might have taken hostile action, had he not recognized Florina's arms splayed alongside his own. She tackled him to the ground. He moved to get up, but she hugged his neck and he froze.

"Don't fight her!" she shouted.

"I have to, if I don't I'll––"

"You can't go! N-not without me."

He froze and he felt her tighten her arms around his neck just a bit. He closed his eyes.

"All right. We'll go back to the others," he said. She sighed in relief.

"I didn't want to have to fight her. She's got some sort of magic...something on her, I don't know what that would have done to her. Huey...um...can sense that sort of thing."

"Really?" he said. "So your flying horse is good for something."

Florina smiled and climbed back on Huey. She held out her hand to him. He took it and climbed behind her and held her waist. She didn't gasp or hesitate like the last time they rode together, but she ushered Huey up into the air and over the mountains. He pressed his forehead against her shoulder. He still didn't like heights, more specifically falling.

"Still don't like flying?" she said.

"No. Can't stand it," he replied. They were silent for a few minutes.

"Is your wound all right?" she asked.

"Still hurts, but I'll be fine," he said. "Florina?"

"Yes?" she said turning slightly. Her hair tickled his nose. He thumbed it out of his face.

"You knew that rider was dangerous to fight, but if I went, you would still go?" he said.

Florina lowered her head, "Y-yes."

"Why?"

"W-well…you did say to stay by your side."

He laughed and squeezed her a little tighter, "This is why I keep you around."

Hector wanted to see her face, just to see if she was blushing or not. He secretly hoped she was.

* * *

Camp was on the move again after the battle died down in hot pursuit of Black Fang operatives. For the time being, Hector enjoyed resting by the fire with Florina. She wasn't mending tonight, but listened as he regaled her with tales from Ostia and of his escapades away from home. She seemed to find them entertaining. She didn't say much, but her eyes were widened and fixated on him. Florina seemed captivated by his stupidity, and her smirks were cleverly hidden behind her arms that folded across her knees that she brought to her chest.

Hector found himself liking this way more than he should. Even though he was doing all the talking, he was actually admiring her. He wondered if she could tell. He had no way of knowing for sure. He reached out and tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.

"It was out of place and bothering me," he said. She only grinned and curled a bit tighter. She wasn't used to casual touches, he took note of that. He would still have to take things very slowly with Florina. He was finally patient. He would wait.

* * *

Oh I know you all hate me for making you wait. I'm sorry! *grins sheepishly* Happy New Year everybody!


	11. Violence

**Stronger**

**Chapter Eleven**

**Violence**

**

* * *

**

The battle in the snow had been trying, but to Florina and her sisters, hiking through the snowy mountains of Bern was nothing. Besides, the retrieval of the Fire Emblem was a major priority. This didn't stop others in the army from complaining even as they descended the mountains with the Fire Emblem in hand. Serra was the most vocal about the cold of course. She wrapped herself in a purple cloak and huddled against Florina as she sat on Huey's back.

"It's freezing! A lady like me wasn't designed to withstand such temperatures!" she said.

Florina giggled, and ushered Huey to go a bit faster. Serra glanced down at the others.

"Ugh, look at Ninian! She won't even take Lord Eliwood's cloak! What are you Ilians made of?" Serra asked.

"Whatever it is, it's much too crude to be able to hold your perfect form," Florina replied.

"Oh, shut up. I may be gorgeous, but Lord Hector hasn't been stealing glances at _me_ all day," Serra said.

"N-now, Serra! That's not right, we're just friends."

"You've got to be kidding me. You told me you love him and it's obvious the man can't keep his eyes off of you."

Florina shook her head, "No. We're just friends and I like it this way. It's less complicated."

Serra rolled her eyes, "For now."

Florina hunched her shoulders and looked down. She really was glad that Hector was her friend. That was all she expected to have. He was much too powerful to throw caution aside and fall in love with her, he had so many other options when it came to women. She ran a hand over her face in a vain attempt to stop herself from blushing, but it was already there. Thankfully, Serra was much too preoccupied with complaining to notice.

There were more important things to worry about. They were in a race against time, they had to get back to Bern and stop Prince Zephiel from being assassinated. Florina shuddered as she thought of the poor prince being killed the same way Leila was.

Her only consolation was that descending Bern's mountains was much easier than climbing them.

* * *

Florina felt her heart drop when she saw that all the lights in the manse were doused. That couldn't be good. The consensus was to go in anyway and see if the damage could be minimized. Mark sent two parties in both doors, giving the enemy no way out. Florina was in Hector's group with Matthew leading the way. As soon as he unlocked a door, they were rushed by waiting enemies. Matthew went on ahead, leaving Farina and Sain to take the first wave of enemies. As soon as there was an opening, Hector rushed ahead to clear a path. Serra and Canas brought up the rear.

"I can't believe we already have to fight. We just got here!" Serra said.

"Look at it this way," Farina said. "The more we fight, the more Hector has to pay us."

"I've already paid you more than I have to," Hector said. Florina ignored the bickering and pushed ahead. As she rounded the corner hoping to ambush some enemies, she found a battle already in progress. A young girl with green hair was casting fire spells and holding her ground somewhat. Florina knew she had to step in and came to her aid, finishing off the mercenary that had cornered her. Sain came shortly after.

"Stay where you are," Florina said to her and went off to help Sain. The others caught up as the heard the commotion. Florina saw Hector talking to the girl out of the corner of her eye. She was pointing to a door near by and he was nodding.

"Sain, Farina, go guard the door. Serra, go inside and check on the prince," he said. The three of them did as asked without hesitation. Florina flew to his side and the girl looked up at her with wide eyes.

"Nino, this is Florina. She will take you to your friend," he said. Nino looked at him for a moment before going to Huey's side. Florina held out her hand and helped her on.

"You can fly this thing inside?" Nino said as they took off.

Florina laughed, "His name is Huey. And yes, I can fly inside."

Florina didn't know quite what to think. Who was this girl? She couldn't possibly be…she didn't _look_ like an assassin.

"Where might your friend be?" she asked.

"He went to the other side of the manse," she said. Florina nodded and flew down an empty hallway. It was quiet, save for the sound of a battle on the other end. They almost made it to the other side of the manse, when Florina spotted a familiar brown horse was coming her way.

"Kent! I'm looking for someone!" Florina cried. He pulled to a stop.

"So am I, and I think you've got her," he said. Florina noticed he had another passenger. Her blood ran cold as the man jumped off Kent's horse. Now _he_ looked like an assassin. Yet Nino ran right up to him and informed him of her plan to stay with the army. He didn't seem to make a definite answer about whether or not he was coming with her. Nino climbed onto Huey's back.

"It's best to give him some space to think," she said. "Let's go and help the others."

By the time they rejoined the others the fight was mostly over. As she landed Mark ran over to them.

"Ah, good you're back," he said. "I need to speak with Nino. Florina, can you let her off?"

"Certainly," she said and eased Nino off Huey's back.

"Glad you're here, Florina. Lord Hector got stir crazy without you to keep him calm."

Florina blushed, but laughed, "Don't be silly, Mark."

Mark chuckled and walked Nino away. Florina couldn't help but wonder about Nino's friend. He was intimidating, but when Nino spoke to him, he seemed to soften a bit.

"Well there you are!"

Florina sighed. It wouldn't be a perfect quiet moment without Serra coming to ruin it. She waved to her friend as she approached. Serra leaned against Huey's side and crossed her arms.

"Really, it's a good thing you're back. Lord Hector was losing his mind. Especially when Nino's friend came along."

"Oh, you saw him too?" Florina said. Serra snorted.

"Pretty shady looking guy if you ask me. He's over by the door."

Florina turned and saw him leaning against a pillar. Hector was glaring daggers at him.

"You see, he was the one who killed Leila," Serra said. Florina's eyes widened. Her mind instantly jumped to several conclusions, but she stopped herself. If he wanted to kill them, he would have done so already. He could have gotten her and Kent very easily in that hallway. They were all alone, no one could have stopped him. Except Nino was there. She couldn't be entirely sure, but she had a feeling that so long as Nino was with them he would stay his blade and fight against who ever Nino fought.

She'd keep a close eye on him nonetheless.

* * *

Florina didn't know how to explain her slight disappointment now that Hector was back in his royal dressings. She knew all the changes were superficial, but he was easier to talk to when he was in normal clothes like the rest of them. He spent most of the day in a meeting with Queen Hellene and Florina spent most of the day taking care of Huey. He had been neglected in the non stop cycle of marching and fighting without a moment to rest.

As evening fell, Florina took to the agonizingly long process of preening Huey's wings. This involved smoothing each feather carefully from base to tip. She usually did this every few months and Huey was long over due. With her friends all occupied, she found herself taking to this task with some reservation. It allowed her to think carefully over things and people in her life. All her thoughts seemed to be disquieting. She was at war, she was unsure of her relationships with others, all these set her on edge. She had to will her fingers to be gentle as she ran her fingers over the shafts of the feathers.

"Florina, are you in here?"

She jumped a little when she heard Hector's voice. She poked her head out of the stall and waved.

"Um…Hello, Lord Hector," she said. She noted that he didn't smile as big as he usually did. "Is…is everything all right?"

"Yeah, we'll be marching to the Shrine of Seals soon enough," he said as he walked toward the stall. She looked over at him and nodded though her brows furrowed. If he didn't want to tell her what was really wrong, she wouldn't ask. He folded his arms and leaned on the stall and she turned back to preening Huey's feathers.

"What do you think of that Jaffar guy?" he asked suddenly. She drew a sharp breath.

"I don't know," she said not looking him in the eye.

"Lyn and Eliwood think he should be given a chance but I don't know. I can't trust anyone who killed a friend of mine."

She set her mouth into a thin line and focused on Huey's feathers.

"Well?" Hector said. She turned to him in confusion.

"Huh?" she said. "D-did you want me to say something?"

"It looked like you had a thought. If you've got something to say, you should say it."

"I-I don't know. You might not like it…"

"Don't tell me you trust that guy!"

"N-not exactly…"

"Then what do you mean? Honestly, I don't understand you all. I believe that people can be redeemed, but he shows no remorse for anything he's done!"

He was raising his voice and she flinched at the volume, but she took a deep breath and continued, "H-he had a chance to leave. But he stayed because of Nino. I think…"

She paused and looked up at him. He was glaring at the wall just behind her head and she didn't feel the nerve to continue.

"What do you think?" he said. She darted her eyes to the ground.

"I think that there's more to him than we know."

"So he deserves another chance?"

She nodded and turned back to Huey. Hector leaned back from the stall and sighed.

"I just don't get it," he said. Florina breathed deeply and glanced at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You, Eliwood and Lyn are all going to be patron saints someday. I guess I'll just be the black hearted villain who guards the underworld," he said. Florina couldn't stifle her laughter.

"You think that's funny?" he said as he grinned and raised an eyebrow. She bit her lip in a vain attempt to stop. He shook his head as he turned to leave.

"You're cute when you laugh," he called over his shoulder as he reached the door. Florina stopped laughing then. Her face was once again its famous red color. _He meant nothing by it_, she told herself, _It's just a compliment, that's all_. A compliment between friends.

* * *

Florina retired shortly after finishing Huey's preening. The disquieting thoughts she already had grew worse after speaking to Hector and sleep seemed to evade her. This proved to be a good thing, because Mark summoned them in the middle of the night. Florina wasn't nearly as agitated as her sleepy eyed companions, but she listened as best she could to the briefing Mark was giving them. It seemed Nino and Jaffar left in the dead of night. They were going to follow them and make sure they didn't run into trouble.

Hector snorted as he took his place beside her, "They may be leading us to trouble."

Florina grimaced. Something was up. For two Black Fang members to leave at such a conspicuous time didn't make any sense, especially because they were masters of stealth. If they were going to leave they would have gone a long time ago. Certainly the time spent with them was too short to count as an infiltration.

Mark and Matthew tracked Jaffar and Nino to a cave. There all was revealed. Sonia's deception, the murder of all the family members Nino held dear and the perversion of the Black Fang's original purpose. Injustices like this were not to stand and there was no way anyone wanted to let Sonia get away with what she did.

The Water Temple had many platforms but they were not connected, at least not for long. Florina was often busy ferrying people from island to island but she kept her eye on Hector. There were enough magic users floating around to make her a bit nervous for him. She was flying Matthew over to open a chest when they spotted the bishop.

"That's a berserk staff he's got," he said. "Why don't you go take care of that guy and come back when I'm done."

"Right," she said and took off. She saw him cast berserk on someone. She cursed and grit her teeth, she was too late. Before he could do any more damage, she plunged her lance into his back before he even had time to counter with a light attack. Florina looked to see if anyone was affected on the nearest island, glancing over her allies to see a reddish glow to their eyes. She spotted Lord Hector and landed near him. She breathed in relief, everyone was––

Raven barely had time to put up his shield as Hector's axe came swinging down on him. Raven growled.

"I knew it, you were always waiting for a chance to finish me off!" Raven cried. Florina looked over in horror as she saw the red in Hector's eyes. No, Hector was not in his right mind, he'd been affected by the berserk spell.

Raven drew his sword, "I'm ready, have at me!"

Florina dove to block Raven's blow. He glared at her but she pushed him back.

"You don't want to fight him now. He'll kill you," she said.

"This is between me and him. Stay out of this."

Florina could not reason further, Hector's axe wanted to claim her next. She managed to dodge in time.

"You see? He's not after you. He's after who ever is nearest at the time. Leave now, or he'll kill you."

"Worry about yourself," Raven said.

"I'll be fine. I have a promise to keep. You should leave."

Lord Hector asked her to stay by his side. He didn't say stay only if it was convenient. She knew he would hurt someone which was why, after seeing Raven safely down the bridge, she blocked Hector's path. He couldn't control himself and with the battle against Sonia raging on she did the best she could do which was to distract him. She couldn't attack a noble but she could keep him busy. She could keep him from doing something he'd regret. Hector was at a new level of strength but he still wasn't as fast as she was.

Under his wicked gaze, she saw him leap. There was no way out. She put up her spear to take the brunt of the blow, but it broke beneath the force of his attack and sank into her left shoulder. A loud and anguished cry escaped her lips, and she began to bleed profusely as he pulled his axe out of the wound. The pain gripped her entire body and she felt sick to her stomach. She looked at Hector and she could tell he was gearing up for another attack. This time Florina reached for her sword and before he could strike she smacked the axe out of his hand.

By now the fight with Sonia was over but he was still fighting her, even unarmed. Before she knew it he tackled her right off Huey's back and the two of them plunged into the cold waters below. His hands gripped around her throat and Florina struggled weakly. This was it…this was all she could do and as the water around her reddened slightly, she reached for Hector's face…

* * *

Sonia fell to the ground in a bloody heap by means of Jaffar. Fiora sighed and switched her lance to her other hand.

"If he was going to all the work, why did they bother to bring me along?" she asked. Serra tossed her hair.

"I'll say. I was supposed to silence her, but he finished so quick I didn't even get the chance," she added.

"Now ladies, our mission here is not just to vanquish enemies, but to look out for our lords and ladies," Oswin interjected. While Fiora nodded and agreed with a "Well put," Serra rolled her eyes. Their idle talk was interrupted by a loud scream. Ninian was pointing to the water and Hawkeye and Dart had jumped in. Fiora and Oswin looked at the island and noticed Huey was there, but Florina wasn't on him and Lord Hector's axe was on the ground.

"Oh, Elimine," Fiora whispered beneath her breath.

"Serra, Lucius, Priscilla get over to that island now!" Mark cried. Hawkeye emerged with Hector fighting him every inch of the way and Dart was carefully cradling the injured Florina. Fiora's mouth hung open and she leapt off her pegasus and started running for her sister, calling her name. Oswin caught her in time.

"There's nothing you can do now, you'd just get in Serra's way," he told her. She turned toward where they were placing Florina's body on the ground, ready to run for her still, struggling against Oswin's grip on her arm. Finally, a semblance of logic settled in and she nodded as tears began to fall from her eyes.

"Why are you always right?" she asked. Oswin didn't move as she began to beat his armor with her fists. "Why are you always right!"

Fiora's initial rage gave way to more tears. She rested her forehead on Oswin's shoulder despite the fact that that he was still wearing his armor and it was slightly uncomfortable.

"My baby sister. Florina…what did I let you get into?" she sobbed. Oswin wasn't one to needlessly dole out displays of affection, but with Fiora in such distress and him having such respect for her, he felt the need to be slightly more forward. He took the reigns of her pegasus in one hand and wrapped his arm around her waist and helped her out of the cave. All the while Florina's cries of pain followed them. Fiora blamed herself for not protecting her sister, Oswin wanted to tell her that he was as much to blame as she was. He should have made Hector study up on magic resistance more, but he had no right to force his lord when he himself was negligent in that area.

The two of them had failed the people that depended on them most. The best they could do now is help Hector and Florina recover from this and help each other stay strong.

* * *

Oh boy, are you guys going to kill me for leaving you there! The good news is: I do have most of the next chapter already finished. So maybe next update won't be so long in coming.


	12. Wounds

**Stronger**

**Chapter Twelve**

**Wounds

* * *

**

Hector had never been possessed by a berserk spell before. His memory of what happened was spotty, but he remembered a few things. He remembered blood, water and Florina. Not that his mind allowed him to register her as anything other than a life that had to be ended, but it was her. Now, as he was brought back to conscious action by Lucius' restore staff, what would remain etched on his mind was the sight of her hand, white and bloody, trembling with pain. After she was resuscitated––he could tell she was breathing by the long, hacking coughs she made––he could see her blood everywhere. He could hear her screaming; he had never imagined she could reach such volumes.

Matthew and Wallace came up on either side of Hector and ushered him away.

"Trust me, you don't want to see this," Matthew said. Hector's feet felt like lead, and he couldn't hear much above his own breathing. He saw Ninian in tears, Eliwood's arm around her; Lyn was on Kent's mount, hugging his waist and trying unsuccessfully to hide her crying. Hawkeye rushed past him, carrying Florina's bloody form. It was then he heard the plaintive question.

"Is Lord Hector all right?" she asked. That stabbed him worse than anything. It hurt him even worse than Farina's steel knuckled glove against his cheek as she punched him mere moments afterward.

"How the hell could you let this happen, you bastard!" she shouted. Hector didn't make any move to defend himself. This was what he should expect: an eye for an eye. Her sister was hurt, Farina wanted him to hurt. Another punch was sent his way, and he was expecting more of an onslaught, when Fiora of all people came to his defense.

"Farina stop this foolishness," she snapped.

"This is your fault too! You let him near her after all she's been through! You of all people should have known that he would hurt her!" Farina cried.

"You're the last person to talk of hurting anybody, you've tormented Florina for years!"

"But I've never harmed her! And you'll make concessions for this two bit lord just because you're bedding his vassal—"

"I am doing no such thing! I can't even have a simple relationship with someone without you being so lewd about it! You will leave my personal life out of this!"

"Or what? Your _man_ will come and stop me! I'm going to take charge with Florina. It's obvious that you can't—"

"She's not a child anymore, she can decide who she wants to be around on her own! Besides, she's safer with him than she is with you!"

Hector hadn't expected that and it was obvious neither had Farina.

"How can you say that?" Farina said in a much softer voice than he expected. "You saw what he did to her, how can you say that?"

"Isn't it obvious? When she's with you, I never see her more stressed out and more unsure of herself. When she's with Hector she…" Fiora fell silent. She covered her mouth, regained her composure and continued. "If he had his wits about him, he wouldn't have hurt her in the first place. It took complete mind control for him to even dream of doing Florina harm. He is nothing but patient with her, more patient than you've ever been. She's changing and opening up and I want her to continue to do so."

Fiora turned to him finally and put a shaking hand on his shoulder, "I'm upset right now, I am…but it's not your fault. It's…really not your fault."

Fiora left them wiping her eyes. Farina glared at Hector clenching and unclenching her fists. Finally she shook her head and stormed off. Hector was unsure of what to do exactly, but he wanted to make sure Florina was all right. He hurried to the medical tent and heard Florina's cries from yards away. This happened on a regular basis in the army. Serious injuries were just a part of life. How often had he heard the agonized cries of an ally? This was different. This was Florina and she was only there because of him.

Lyn was crouched by a tree with Kent at her side. She was screaming something he couldn't understand, he wasn't sure now if she was speaking in the Sacean tribal languages or her voice was so lost in sobs he just couldn't make it out. He couldn't just leave Florina like that he had to wait to hear word of her condition. As he reached the medical tent, he found Farina and Fiora there. Before he could go any closer, a firm hand caught his arm.

"Don't go any further," Oswin said. Hector was about to protest, when Florina screamed for Elimine to save her. He flinched at the sound of her voice.

"You're only going to punish yourself, and if you don't I'm sure Farina will," Oswin said. "Let her alone for now."

Hector did not resist and left without a word. He cast a glance over his shoulder before stealing away with uncharacteristic silence to his tent.

* * *

Hector heard snippets of what happened to Florina as he got breakfast.

"…broken collar bone…"

"Almost completely severed!"

"Shattered shoulder blade…"

"…blood everywhere! She can hardly stand!"

"Lucky it was her left one…"

"Still, she may never fight again."

He wanted to shut it out. He wanted to take it back, he wanted to make it so he would never have been taken over by that bishop. Nils pushed past him rather harshly and filled up a large bowl of the morning's porridge.

"That's an awful lot of food, Nils," Lowen said.

"Florina and I are sharing this morning. Serra said she might not finish her breakfast, so I should just get a bigger portion," the boy replied. Hector couldn't escape this. Just when he was about to head toward the edge of the camp, Eliwood sat beside him.

"Hey, Hector," he said. Hector grunted in response. The two were silent for a while.

"She'll be fine," Eliwood reassured him.

"I almost cut off her arm, Eliwood. I almost strangled her and then as if I hadn't done enough to cause her pain, she almost bled to death. Tell me how she'll be fine?"

"The key word is 'almost.' She was doing better this morning."

"Eliwood, you'll never understand. You'll never hurt anyone you care about, but I did. I did so much work just to get her to trust me and now she probably won't talk to me again," Hector said. He stormed off to his tent. What ever he had with Florina was gone, and that hurt him more than he could ever admit.

* * *

It was an otherwise uneventful day as he waited for night to fall. Aside from hurried whispers and a few reproachful looks, no one really spoke to him. Hector waited until most of the camp was asleep before he went to the infirmary. As he approached this was the first time he understood what Florina felt every day. A dread built up in his chest. He didn't want to see how much he had broken her. He wanted to see _her_ but not like this.

He was about to turn around and walk away, when Serra exited the tent looking very worn. She was surprised to see Hector and her face clearly showed it. She was too tired to mask her feelings with her sense of superiority. Her usual snide remarks didn't seem to come, Serra even looked…sympathetic?

"You did quite a number on her, that's for sure. Her arm could have been completely cut off. Needless to say, you shattered her shoulder blade, her collarbone is crushed and you broke a few ribs, and you might have hurt her worse if she wasn't wearing more armor. You were hairs away from collapsing her lung as well," Serra began. "She's got bruising on her neck, she's lost a lot of blood, and when she's awake she's a little shell shocked, but…I patched her up pretty well."

"Will she ever fight again?" Hector asked.

"Usually I would say no, but I got to her very quickly and I've had enough practice in Saint Elimine's higher healing arts that I can get her back to normal in three weeks or so. With Lord Pent's guidance and input, it's been so much easier."

"Thank you, Serra."

"I'm not doing this for you or to ease your guilt or even because I'm your vassal. Florina is my dear friend, and…I'd like her to live to be the Lady of Ostia," Serra told him. "Well, go in. She's not going to wake up so she can't be afraid of you."

Hector nodded and went in. The tent was only lit by the moonlight that streamed in through the flaps, but he could see Florina clearly. She was sleeping, obviously through some sort of sedative. She looked a wreck. Her skin was pale no doubt from the loss of blood and the dealing with constant pain. Her left arm was in a sling, and her left shoulder was bandaged up. Her eyes were sunken in a little and he could see the dark bruising around her neck.

He always imagined that if such a thing were to happen for her, he probably would have chopped the guy's head off and would be ready to offer it to her on a plate. Would she accept just an apology? What would it take to get that comfort and trust back? He ran his thumb along her jaw line and sighed.

"I'm just happy you're alive. Even if you never speak to me again, I'm glad you're still here," he said.

* * *

Hector was never one to brood, but since he met Florina, this was becoming a more frequent occurrence. He was so unsure of what to do when it came to her. Even if Florina would have been awake for longer than ten minutes at a time, she probably didn't want to see him. A week had passed, and Farina was finally starting to at least tolerate his presence, though Florina still hadn't regained much strength. He wanted Florina to trust him so badly and who knews how long it'd be until she even talked to him again. His thoughts were interrupted by Lyn storming into his tent.

"Go see Florina. Today, tonight, I don't care, but go talk to her," she ordered. Hector was about to respond, but she cut him off. "She's finally able to stay awake long enough to really talk to us and all she talks about is you. She wants to see you. She asks about you all the time and we tell her you're okay, but she thinks we're lying. She said if you were all right, you would have come to see her already. You should have seen the scene she caused with Fiora."

Hector was taken aback by that.

"She wants to see me?" he asked.

"Yes, you idiot. I don't see why, but she insists," Lyn said. "And I'm not mad at you for what happened. None of us are, really. I'm more upset because you didn't go to see her."

"Yeah…Thanks. I mean for not being upset," Hector told her. Lyn nodded absently and left the tent.

"You're both hopeless," she said under her breath as she walked away.

* * *

It was late and Hector waited near the medical tent until the only other person left inside besides Florina was Serra. They were going to start the healing session, and every minute of it sounded painful. It was a matter of realigning bones and restoring tissue, all of which made Florina cry out in pain. Serra ended the session by wrapping up her wound well and putting her arm back in a sling.

"Try to get some sleep, all right, Florina?" Serra told her friend as she left. Serra wasn't so surprised to see him this time. She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

"Well, it's about time!" Serra said. "You think one visit while she's asleep counts as seeing her? Well, I'll save you the lecture because she's waiting for you. I've wanted to see her smile even a little bit since her injury."

Serra opened the tent flaps and motioned for him to go inside. He entered the medical tent somewhat quietly. He heard Florina's sniffling, and he hated the sound even more so now because he knew that he was the cause of it.

"Florina?" he called, allowing the tent flaps to close behind him. She wiped her eyes, trying to hide the tears, but it was too late.

"L-Lord Hector," she stammered. "I-I'm sorry…I-I didn't think anyone…"

"Florina," he said as he sat on the stool by her cot. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I didn't want to hurt you at all."

"I…I know. You…h-have low resistance to magic…I noticed."

"I never really paid attention much when it came to magic," Hector said. Florina sat up slowly.

"Hey, you! Should you move so much after such injuries!"

"P-please…would you…I need…um…"

"Stay here and rest," he insisted. She reached and grabbed the fabric of his shirt.

"P-please take me to Huey," she said quickly. Was her hand trembling from pain, nervousness or fear? It didn't matter, in any case, the fact was that she reached out for him when she felt uncertain. He carefully took her in his arms.

"I-I didn't…ah…you don't…L-Lord Hector!" she cried. He sighed.

"You wouldn't have made it the whole way to the stable anyway," he told her. "Besides, if it embarrasses you, don't worry, no one can see us. And you're my friend and friends help friends. Right?"

Florina's face, he was sure was dark red, but she nodded. He brought her to Huey's stall, and let her stand so she was leaning against it. Florina smiled and she rubbed the pegasus' nose a little.

"I'm all right Huey," she cooed, forgetting that Hector was with her for a moment. It was beautiful the serenity that crossed her features. If only she could be that way with him, even for an instant…

"I need….I…um…I just want….help," she said.

"What? I'll get it," Hector offered. She shook her head.

"Huey…he doesn't…he won't…let you," Florina tried to explain. She slowly opened the door to the stall and stumbled in. Hector put a hand firmly on her right shoulder. Effortlessly, she plucked two feathers from Huey's wings.

"F-for you…" Florina said, holding them out to him. "Pegasus feathers…are highly magic resistant…."

His eyes widened. After all that, she was still going to help him? She pressed them against his chest.

"F-friends help friends, right?" she said and smiled weakly. Hector mussed her hair a little.

"You're going to be a saint some day, you know that?" he said. Before she could protest, he had her in his arms again, carrying her back. Most girls, when in this situation of being carried by the man of their dreams would probably lean their head against his chest, or wrap an arm around his neck. Florina did neither of these, but her blush was uncontrollable.

He laid her back on her cot and she pulled her blanket over. He took the pegasus feathers from Florina, their fingers brushed against each other. Hector knew that something was in order, a kiss maybe? No, too soon, she'd pass out from sheer embarrassment. He took her right hand in his and gave it a little squeeze.

"Thank you, Florina," he said.

Florina blushed seven shades of pink and mumbled, "You're always welcome, my lord."

He left the tent shortly after, brushing the feathers against his lips thoughtfully. Once inside his own tent, Eliwood still missing, he tied the feathers around a bit of leather string and put it around his neck. So no one would as questions, he stuffed it in his shirt, close to his heart.

* * *

Oswin didn't know what was becoming of his lord. Hector was sleeping in and in his state of lethargy, he was slower than usual in getting his armor on. Oswin did note that before putting on his breastplate, Hector pulled out some feathers on a string from his shirt, smile and placed them back. Oswin could guess where they came from, judging from their color. He shook his head but placed his hand reassuringly where his own set of feathers hung beneath his armor.

* * *

I had planned to hold on this a little longer, but it was too mean to keep this. Hopefully, you enjoyed this chapter. :)


	13. Limitations

**Stronger**

**Chapter Thirteen**

** Limitations

* * *

**

Florina tried unsuccessfully to put her boots on herself. She probably could have done it, but it was just too awkward with one hand and took too much time. Over the knee boots were quite a hassle for her right now. Ninian was more than willing to lend her slippers. Florina didn't like this in the least. She was sorely handicapped. She couldn't put on her armor and she could barely take care of Huey. Now she was so glad she preened his wings before this happened. Serra checked her over that morning and clucked her tongue.

"You're recovering well. I won't have a healing session with you until later. But you're far from battle ready," Serra said. "I'm not clearing you for combat for at least another week."

"I agree. There's no point in me fighting. I'd be dead weight," she said.

Serra hugged her, "No one who's my friend is dead weight."

Florina left the medical tent feeling rather odd. She was borrowing the dress Lyn wore while they were undercover. It was a bit too large for her, but that was fine since she couldn't move her shoulder much, the extra room made it easier to put on. She felt so normal and out of place amid all her armed comrades. This didn't stop everyone (well, it felt like everyone) from stopping and talking to her. Her head was awhirl with well wishes. The real surprise came when Raven pulled her aside. He crossed his arms and glared at something in the distance.

"Look, I'm…you shouldn't have tried to fight Lord Hector on your own," he said.

Florina looked down and bit her lip, "I-I took a risk. I knew I'd get hurt."

"Now you know what Lord Hector is capable of."

Florian gripped the fabric of her skirt. She didn't know why she didn't like the way Raven said that to her, as if she were a child, as if she didn't understand what she had done.

"I've fought with him for months now, I know he could have killed me. I stayed behind knowing I might die."

"Why did you take him on alone then!"

Florina looked down at the ground bur she forced her voice to be as loud as she could muster, "I sent you away because if you stayed, you would have attacked him. If you attack someone who is affected by a berserk spell, you make them stronger. I could handle Hector the way he was but if he got any stronger, we both would have died."

She ran away after that. She had never been so forceful with anyone before. She ducked behind a tree and caught her breath. She got injured by an ally once. Up until that point, she had extremely minor incidents, so why should one attack render her incompetent and her judgment poor? She sat down and cradled her arm.

"Don't listen to him."

Florina jumped a little and looked behind her. Oswin was there, she hadn't even heard him approach.

"I happened to overhear your conversation with Raven. You made the right call. I'm sorry it resulted in your getting hurt, but you were correct in assuming that Raven would have attacked Hector," he said.

Florina smiled, "Thank you, Sir Oswin."

"You shouldn't doubt yourself. You are a very skilled falcoknight."

She blushed a bit, "You're just flattering me because I'm Fiora's sister."

"I don't flatter all of Fiora's sisters, I'll have you know."

Florina had to laugh at that.

"Sir Oswin? I'm…" she trailed off a bit before regaining her thoughts. "I'm happy that my sister found you. She's needed someone to rely on and I really can't think of anyone more dedicated than you."

"You do this knight a great honor with your compliments. Florina, if I may trouble you for a moment?"

Florina turned to face him, "Of course you may."

"I intend to marry your sister and I think it's only right that I ask her family for permission."

Florina stood up now, her heart a flutter with excitement, "You knew you had my approval before you even asked. It's Farina you may have trouble with."

"I was going to wait to ask her," he said.

"A wise choice. You both have my blessing."

Oswin bowed to her once before taking his leave. Florina thought this was the best news she could have gotten on a day like today.

* * *

They arrived at the Shrine of Seals much too soon in Florina's opinion. She was still injured and from her vantage point on Huey, she could see enemies. She brought him to land, and waited to hear further instructions from Mark. It seemed Linus was out for blood, thinking that they had something to do with Lloyd's death. Florina felt her heart sink as she watched her friends getting ready for battle. She didn't like this feeling of uselessness. She climbed off of Huey and went toward the back of the ranks where Merlinus usually set up camp. Even he had a wagon now and could ride out to the front lines.

"Oh, don't you start crying now!" Hector said as he came up behind her. She grinned at him.

"I'm perfectly fine with sitting this fight out, my lord," she replied.

"Oh, stop saying that! The 'lord' stuff I mean. We're friends, Florina, just call me Hector."

"I'm…I'm not sure that's appropriate…"

He snorted, "You've been hanging around Oswin too much. He told me that he might be marrying your sister soon. I had to give him permission as his lord to marry. Don't know why he asked, he knew I'd say yes."

"Just want you always wanted. Oswin and Fiora always around to advise you," she said.

"Anyway! Don't feel bad about not fighting. I know you're with me," he said. He pounded a fist lightly against his armor. Florina blushed. He was wearing Huey's feathers. She didn't think he'd keep them. He placed a hand on her uninjured shoulder.

"You did me enough of a service in keeping me from hurting anyone else. I just want you safe so we can fight alongside each other another day. All right?" he said.

"All right," she replied and released a sigh. He bid her goodbye and went toward the front lines. Florina did feel that she should be doing something to help, but there was no way Mark would let her at least ferry Serra around (and no way Serra would consent to her being out amid all the fighting). What else could she do?

Her eyes landed on Merlinus's wagon. She ran over and flagged him down.

"Why, Florina! What can I do for you?" he asked. "Do you need a vulnerary? An elixir perhaps?"

"I want to help you distribute weapons and supplies," she said.

"Oh…I'm not sure that's a good idea..."

"I'm fine! I just really want to help!"

He sighed and held out his hand, "Come on in and stay hidden. Don't let Serra or Lyn see you. They'll kill me! Or one of your sisters will. Or maybe Lord Hector will have me executed!"

"Don't be silly," she said as she took his hand. He hoisted her beside him and she climbed into the wagon. She took stock of what they had. It was full to the brim with all kinds of weapons, but they were all neatly arranged and easy to find. The clash of weaponry and screams let Florina know the fighting had begun. She didn't want to chance and look out and let someone see her, but she listened. Battles sounded more terrifying when you didn't know what was going on. From the small hole in the back, she saw Hector lagging behind. Why would Mark do that?

Her attentions became occupied when Priscilla came asking for new mend staves. Florina retrieved them from the back and gave them to Merlinus to pass along. She disappeared into the back of the wagon as quickly as she could.

"Was that Florina?" Priscilla asked.

"I cannot lie to you, my lady. It certainly is," Merlinus said.

"She shouldn't be here!"

"But she insisted on coming! I figured since she'd be inside, it'd be all right."

"She's not supposed to be handling heavy weaponry!"

"Just let me do this!" Florina cried. It was much easier to shout at people when she didn't have to look at them.

Priscilla sighed, "Fine. But if you feel even the slightest twinge in your arm, come to me immediately."

"Of course," Florina said. For the most part, the battle when off smoothly. It was toward the end, when things got a little hairy. Linus was cornered in the shrine, when Florina saw the familiar silhouette of that blonde wyrvryn rider coming their way. She felt around for a wyrmslayer and readied it. No way she'd let her get her allies, even if it meant that she'd reopen her wounds and was otherwise unarmed. It was only when she actually saw Hector walking just under her wryvryn's wing that she lowered her guard. They recruited her? But how? Why would she agree to work with them?

She hid behind a crate. She couldn't let him see her, he'd get so upset.

"Merlinus, she needs a vulnerary. I'm just going to reach in the back and get one," he said.

"No, my lord! Let me do it!" Merlinus said. Florina held her breath.

"No, just let me get it. You've got to be able to pull off quick if you have to."

Before Merlinus could protest further, Hector climbed into the back of the wagon. Florina knew her charade was over. He reached for a vulnerary and as he turned around, he saw her. She grinned and waved. His face was unreadable for a few moments before he closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. He opened his eyes and shot her a glare.

"We'll talk in a minute," he said. She crawled from her spot beside the crate and stared after him. She swallowed and sat on the floor of the wagon. Sure enough not even a minute passed before he climbed back in.

"The fight is mostly over, so they don't really need me," he said. He crossed his arms. "What on earth were you thinking!"

"I just wanted to help," she said.

"I understand that. But what if Merlinus got attacked with you inside! I couldn't live with you getting hurt like that again."

"I'm a mercenary. I am…I am constantly at risk for getting severely hurt."

"I know that!"

He sighed and knelt in front of her. He placed a hand just behind her neck so his thumb grazed her jawline below her ear. His head was bowed low, she couldn't really see his face.

"I just…Florina…" he said.

"You never worried about me like this before," she whispered. He drew her closer, rested his head on her right shoulder and wrapped his free arm around her waist.

"You're always protecting and helping me, so let me protect and help you," he said.

Florina wanted to protest. She didn't need help, she made her own decisions and this position was most unbecoming of people who were just friends. But she found no will to push him away, and she lost whatever will to chastise him later when his cheek brushed against hers just briefly.

"I'll watch out for you no matter what fool hardy notion you take into your head," he said as he left. She blushed deeply and covered her face with her hands. If all reprimands were to end like that, she would get in trouble a lot more often.

* * *

As soon as the battle with Linus was finished, Lord Athos appeared and whisked Eliwood, Hector and Lyn away. This left the army pretty much to their own devices. Florina might have tried to talk with Nino, but the girl was beside herself with grief for her brother. Serra was preoccupied with after battle injuries. Florina wanted to stay pretty low key. She didn't want her sisters to ask what she was doing during the fight, she couldn't lie to them and they'd be livid if they found out. She spotted Ninian alone by the entrance to the shrine.

"Waiting for Lord Eliwood to return?" Florina asked. Ninian barely glanced up at her as she approached.

Florina rubbed Ninian's arm, "Are you all right?"

"It's…it's really nothing," she said. Florina didn't want to press Ninian if she didn't want to talk.

"Lord Eliwood loves me so much," she said after a moment.

"That's great!" Florina said. Silently she was slightly jealous. She couldn't be certain if Hector loved her or just really liked her company.

"Well…how do I tell him the truth about me? He couldn't look at me the same way…"

"Ninian, if he can't accept you for what you are, then you don't need him. And I'm sure he feels the way I do about you. You are you, regardless of what you are. As long as you're the same kind, caring girl he loves I'm sure he'll accept you."

"There's just so much to lose."

"And everything to gain."

Ninian hunched her shoulders, "I can't…"

"If you love him as much as you say, you'll have to."

Ninian sighed and hugged Florina, "I'll…I'll tell him when all this is over."

"You can do this!"

"Right after you tell Lord Hector how you really feel," she added.

Florina felt her face flush, "N-now, listen! My situation is different. Lord Hector and I are friends only!"

"So you don't want more?" Ninian said.

"N-Ninian!"

"I don't know, Florina. It seems like he really loves you."

"Stop imagining things."

"Florina, I'm serious. Gentle and tender are not what I'd use to describe Lord Hector, but…I wish you could see the way he looks at you when you pass by. His entire demeanor changes. Lord Eliwood even says that Lord Hector has changed since he met you."

Florina shook her head violently. She did not dare hope for more.

"I-I've got to go, talk to you later, Ninian…" she said. She wrapped her free arm around her waist. This…this was not right. If Hector got overly familiar with her again, she'd have to push away. She could lose rank for improper relations with an employer if she kept imagining that there was anything more between her and Hector.

* * *

Florina never got to speak to Ninian later. When Lord Hector returned, Nergal was waiting. Ninian offered herself up in replacement for everyone else's safety. Florina couldn't believe that she had seen her friend taken from her. She walked around in a fog until evening. Serra's work had let up mostly and she took the time to have a healing session with Florina.

"I heard about what you did today. Hiding Merlinus's cart, what were you thinking?" she said as she unwrapped Florina's bandages.

Florina hissed as Serra gently lifted the fabric from her red, raised scar, "I was thinking I could help."

Serra examined the threads that kept Florina's wound patched and sighed, "I would chastise you, but I'll let Fiora do it."

Serra held her staff near Florina's shoulder. Florina's hands clenched so tight her stubby fingernails dug deep crescent moons into her palms. Healing looked soothing and all, but it hurt quite a bit. First you had to remove the weapon, if it was a spear that could be quite harrowing. In good circumstances, you had the luxury of cleaning the wound well, but normally they would have to rely on dumping some of a vulnerary or elixir over it and hoping it did the job. Then healing itself stung intensely. Something about restoring lost tissue and bone made you sore for a few hours.

Serra finished up relatively quickly. There was much less to heal so it hurt a lot less. Serra was able to take out a few stitches here and there.

"The scar is healing much nicer than I expected," she said. "The tissue heals fast, but the bone doesn't. I'm still saying it might be another week before you can fight. As always, go easy on the shoulder, it's a bit tender. You can ride Huey, but be careful getting on and off and try not to fall. And no handling heavy weaponry, this includes distributing it."

"I got it," Florina said. She bid Serra good night as it was getting quite late. Twilight had just begun.

"There you are!"

She jumped and turned to face Hector as he approached. His armor was different, heavier, shinier. In the evening light he looked like something out of a legend.

"Good evening, my lord. You seem to have a new look," she said with a slight bow.

"Hector. You can call me Hector," he said. "And yes, I got a bit of a power upgrade, so I got outfitted with new armor. But just because my armor is all shiny doesn't mean you have to treat me different."

"Um…of course."

"How'd your healing session go?"

"Fine. I'm a bit sore."

A light breeze blew by, fluttering Hector's cape in the wind.

"It's a bit cool out," he said. She raised her eyebrows. "Hey, I'm just a thin blooded Lycian. This is probably like summer to you."

She laughed, "It really does kind of feel like that."

"You're not cold at all?" he said. She shook her head. "Then…do you want to walk with me?"

"Sure," Florina said. They settled into a comfortable silence. Well, for once Florina was comfortable, she wasn't sure Hector was. He seemed ready to tell her something. How strange to be on the other side.

"I just need to know something, Florina, and be honest. You're not afraid of me, are you?" he asked. She breathed in sharply as a fierce blush graced her cheeks.

"N-no. I know if you had control, you wouldn't hurt me. I know this may seem hard to believe, but…I don't think I ever was really afraid for my safety around you," she said.

"You sure could have fooled me. What is it with you and men?"

She felt her shoulders drop a little. How could she possibly explain? Did he really need to know that much? She wondered if he believed some of the rumors floating around camp about her. Oh, she knew that people cared about her and Lyn and her sisters didn't stand for any bad talk about her. That didn't stop rumors from going around. She glanced over at him uncertainly. His whole attention was directed at her and she felt her face grow redder.

"I-its…not so much that…well…I know what people say about me," she said looking down.

"What do people say about you?" Hector asked. She blinked, but couldn't bring herself to look at him. So he didn't know.

"Never mind, forget I brought it up."

"I want to know."

"W-well…um…people think that I'm afraid of men because some major trauma or something. Like my father beat me, which couldn't be further from the truth."

"Sounds like you really loved your father."

"He was the greatest. He told me that Elimine made my sisters, my mom and I so small so that he could hold us all at once."

Unconsciously she hugged herself. Hector draped part of his cloak over her head blocking her vision. She pulled it away from her eyes and looked up at him questioningly. He grinned at her and put an arm around her waist, since her shoulder was still sore from the healing.

"You looked cold," he said. She bit her lip to stop herself from grinning too widely and to remind herself to keep her place. In fact, she should tell him to unhand her, but she found herself quite comfortable.

"So, why _are_ you afraid of men?" he asked.

"It's not so simple. It's…a lot of little things. Aside from my father…men weren't particularly nice to me. After my parents died, I used to stay with this family while my sisters were away. They treated me well, except the father…he didn't like when Farina and Fiora would send me money and when I would read my letters to everyone. He said I was teaching the women that they were better off without men. One night he chased me out of the house. I stayed back at my house alone and hid in the attic because he'd come in sometimes at night and search the house for money and food."

"Well, that's one time," he said. "But you said there were a lot of things."

"It's just stupid stuff…"

"Getting chased out of the house of people who were supposed to take care of you is not little. There had to be something else."

"Um…after that I started to stay at the inn in town while my sisters were gone. The innkeeper promised to keep me fed and make sure I kept out of trouble, but he couldn't be everywhere. I guess…because they saw I was alone, a-a lot of the boys used to tease me and…"

"And what?"

"Oh it's…ah…th-they liked to pull pranks on me everyday. I wouldn't really fight back. Well, I did once."

Hector smirked, "Now that's something I want to hear."

She grimaced, "I don't know why I believed them when they told me things. I guess…I kept hoping that one time when they did something nice for me it'd be for real. Anyway, they told me that this one guy liked me and he wanted to meet me in back of this place…I can't really remember where it was. So…so I went there and instead of confessing, all the boys locked me in a woodshed and left me there. Night was falling and it was getting cold. So instead of ramming the door with my shoulder, I concentrated my efforts on kicking near the lock. I got out and tried to make it back to the inn, but I ran into those guys again…"

"So what did you do?" he asked.

"I grabbed the nearest thing I could find, a pail I think, and started swinging at them with all my might. I think I knocked of them out…then they started getting really mad, but…I realized something then. I wasn't afraid of them, not so long as I knew I could fight back. I think someone heard all my screaming and came to see what happened and the boys ran away."

"So from what I gather is that up until recently you've only known two ways to deal with men: attack or be attacked."

She narrowed her eyes in thought and then nodded, "It's...kind of new to find that not all men aren't out to get me…I'm talking too much, aren't I?"

He smiled at her, "I think this is the most you've ever said to me. I'm glad I know something about you."

"R-really?"

"Yeah. And you know what? Since you're not afraid of men when you fight, maybe we should spar some time when you're better. I need some sword practice. You up for it?"

Florina looked up at him, "A-all right, yes…"

She pulled the fabric of his cape closer around her head hoping to hide her blush.

"Sh-shouldn't we go back to the inn?" she said.

"It is kind of late," he said. They started back. The glow of the firelight inside the houses in the village was inviting. Once they arrived at the inn, Florina was surprised to find Serra waiting outside.

"As soon as Oswin told me he saw you and Hector go out for a walk, I got so worried. I couldn't go after you right then, so I stayed here so I could give Hector a piece of my mind!" she said.

"Save it for tomorrow, I'm tired," Hector said. He stormed inside as Serra stomped her foot.

"You get back here!" she cried.

"Remember, Florina, we have a date!" he shouted over Serra. She stopped talking and turned to Florina expectantly.

"A date? What's that all about?" Serra asked as she put her hands on her hips. Florina waved it away.

"We're just going to spar, that's all," she said.

Serra smacked her forehead, "Ugh, what a moron. When you make an appointment with a lady, she expects flowers, poetry and holding hands not sparring, you'll get all sweaty. No wonder you're so confused about how he feels."

"I know how he feels, Serra. I'm his friend, we're going to spar, and that's that."

Serra narrowed her eyes, "He put his cloak on you and had his arm around your waist. You still think you're just friends?"

"What else could we be?" Florina said.

Serra opened her mouth, but then snapped it shut again.

"If you two ever get together you deserve each other," she said as she walked away. Florina sighed and closed her eyes before she went upstairs into her room. She sat on the bed and covered her face with her hands. She had let too much slip today, but they were alone and things were just so peaceful around the village. For that brief walk all his attention was on her and her alone. She felt so…

She let out a string of muttered curse words as she curled up in a ball. She was nervous but she felt safe. He _wanted_ to know about her.

"It's all right. I'm allowed to feel safe around Lord Hector and he's allowed to want to know more about his comrades in arms," she said. Satisfied that no moral transgressions had occurred, she fell asleep.

* * *

Florina stared at the now empty bedroll across from her in the tent. In just a few days, everything changed. All they were supposed to do was retrieve Durandal from Roland's resting place. Once again forced to sit another battle out, Florina stayed outside the cave. She saw the dragon approaching some distance away. She knew two things instantly as she saw it. It was definitely an ice dragon and it was definitely Ninian. She chased after her.

"Ninian, get away! They don't know who you are!" she cried. The others in the camp were indeed confused. Raven was the fist to catch up with her and grab Florina by the waist.

"You can't do anything against a dragon, you idiot!" he said. She pushed him away.

"You don't understand, you can't let her get any closer. If Eliwood sees her, he's going to kill her!" Florina cried.

"Why are you so worried about a damn dragon!"

She broke away and took off, Raven still hot on her heels. It all happened so quickly. Eliwood, Lyn and Hector came out and all she saw was the glint of the sword. In a flash, he slashed deep into her chest. Florina stopped running then and fell to her knees. She barely felt Raven help her to her feet.

Now here she was, in an empty tent, only with memories of how Ninian was murdered by the person she loved most. Death was something expected in an army, but not like this. This was a strange and ironic tragedy.

She stared down at the slippers Ninian leant her, the ones she would never wear again. Florina covered her face with her hands and cried. This had to end. She would lend her lance to stop Nergal before he destroyed anymore lives.

* * *

Thanks for reading. And thank you for your reviews. I don't reply like I should, but honestly, it's probably because I'm reading them over and over. Reviews really make me happy.


	14. Discord

**Stronger**

**Chapter 14:**

**Discord

* * *

**

"This is a message from Lord Nergal: Meet me on the Dread Isle. Thi––"

Hector never felt so relieved than when he saw Florina plunge her lance into that morph's chest. It was an abomination to the human race as a whole. Plus, Florina was back in action, so he was glad to have her back at his side. He nudged her as she and Huey trotted beside him.

"You're better than you were before, if that's possible," he said. Florina laughed.

"I'd have to keep up my skill if I'm to stay with you, my lord."

He fell silent and narrowed his eyes at her. She gasped, "Oh, um…I'll remember to use your name next time…"

"You'll have plenty of time to get used to it," he said. The look that crossed her face, it was a bit wistful as she smiled and rode on ahead of him. He sighed deeply. He hated those looks. She could never just accept his attentions. He did know why she resisted but at the same time, he was beginning to wonder if he was the only one in love. Maybe everyone was just misreading Florina's kindness as something more. He didn't want to pressure her into falling in love with him, there'd be no joy for either of them.

That didn't matter right now, they were going into battle soon, he had more important things to worry about. Preparations had to be made, supplies bought. The entirety of the next day was spent just packing. As evening fell, most were retiring for the night. Despite his best efforts to only think of the final battle, and despite his frustration over Florina, he had other things on his mind. Even though he was home, something was just off. When he asked to send a messenger to Uther to report the goings on, there had been a lot of strange looks and averted glances. Hector was a lot of things, and unobservant was one of them, but even he wasn't stupid enough not to know that something had happened to Uther and no one was telling him.

Uther had to be dead. Even if he were just resting, Oswin would have sent notice to him, but not even that happened. Did Serra and Matthew know his brother was dead? Why didn't anyone think it was important to tell him? Hector didn't know if it was grief or anger that made him lash out at Oswin. To hell with rank and honor. If Oswin was really his friend he would have told Hector the truth. _Guess it's good that we aren't really friends_ he thought. Maybe he'd regret thinking that later, but dammit right now he was pissed off.

He headed toward the throne room.

"Close the doors, let no one in," he said to the guards.

"But, my lord, there's––"

"If I have to repeat myself I will kill both of you without hesitation."

They silently let him through and shut the doors behind him. Hector stood near the doors for the longest time, just staring at the now empty throne.

"Dammit, Uther…that isn't fair," he said. He walked slowly toward the chair. "You didn't tell me you were sick. You didn't tell me you were dying. Then you order Oswin not to tell me you're dead. What kind of idiot do you think I am?"

He stood in front of the throne, his fists clenched, "Why! Why can't you trust me! Down to the last, you didn't trust me!"

He sank into the throne and put a hand over his eyes. What did he do to earn that trust anyway?

"You could have at least let me say good bye, you bastard…" he whispered. He shut his eyes tight and leaned back. No mortal eyes must see the impossibility of an Ostian lord crying.

* * *

He was numb when he woke up the next day. Not exactly unresponsive, in fact to some degree he was over compensating for the lack of feeling by overreacting. Like being excessively energetic, and going out of his way to be in people's faces. It was clear now the word had spread. Everyone knew that his brother had died. It was always hard to talk to grieving people, it was clear some of his comrades were avoiding him. They shouldn't be so distant. He wasn't grieving. His brother was dead and there was nothing to do about it. It was a sad business and all, but it couldn't be helped.

He had to move on, that was why he threw himself into preparing for battle. Except, no matter how focused he tried to be on the fight that awaited them on the Dread Isle, he couldn't distract himself from his anger and this strange dragging feeling. He couldn't quite make eye contact with Oswin, he was still mad and couldn't talk to him. He wanted to just be alone for a moment, but with a ship crawling with anxious people, it was almost no use.

Wait, there was one quiet place. The hold where they put Huey and the other mounts. Florina was always hiding there, it had to be quiet. Sure enough, it was empty save Florina of course in her usual spot leaning on Huey's stall. She started when she heard him come in, but relaxed after a moment.

"Good evening, Lord Hector," she said.

"'Hector,' please," he replied.

"Um…ah…I'm not sure I should."

"Why not?"

She didn't answer and he filled in the gaps. He was officially Lord of Ostia now. She couldn't be so casual.

"Lord Hector, I'm sorry," she said.

Great, sympathy. Just want he wanted to hear right now. He crossed his arms and shook his head, "Don't be. You didn't do anything and I don't need––"

"That's not why I'm sorry. I-I mean, yes, your loss is tragic but…no one told you. No one trusted you enough to tell you the truth." Already she was crying, "That's why I'm sorry for you. You shouldn't have found out about Lord Uther that way."

Hector drew back and stared. How on earth did she…it didn't matter

"Thank you," he said.

* * *

This was not at all how he pictured being in love would be like. He'd always thought it'd be so simple. He wasn't exactly full of himself, but usually women threw themselves at him. He'd always thought it's be a matter of simply finding the least annoying of the bunch, telling her that he loved her and that would be that. This was all a big guessing game. At first it was a question of whether or not he loved her. Now that he was absolutely certain, he had just assumed that she liked him.

Now he wasn't so sure. Just telling her that he loved her would scare or pressure her, especially given he had just lost his brother. He just didn't know. But he did know that he wanted to see her once more before things got really crazy. He knew exactly where to find her at this time in the evening she was always with Huey. Sure enough she was there, whispering to him and rubbing the side of his face. Florina heard his approach and grinned.

"I thought you had retired early, Lo…I mean, Hector," she said.

"I intended to, but it's hard to sleep," he said.

"Well, that's to be expected."

"Would you mind taking a walk with me?"

Florina nodded and walked out of the stable with him.

"So what do you think of Ostia?" he asked as they entered the torch lit halls.

"It's not very flashy, but it's still quite grand. It's a beautiful place, and your subjects are quite generous. Maybe they can afford to be because of their Ostian frugality. We're frugal in Ilia too, but…there's not enough around for us to afford to be any way else. It's kind of refreshing to see thrift out of practically rather than necessity."

"So if you had to chose between here or say…Pharae, which would you say?"

"That's not a fair question!"

"No, it's not about me and Eliwood, strictly on your impression of both places, which do you like better?"

She paused a bit and crossed her arms, "I'd have to say I'd ultimately pick here. Ostians are a bit more like Ilians without all the male/female vitriol. Plus I can make more money here as a mercenary. You guys have a bigger market and people pay Ostian based mercenaries more. They're considered tougher than the rest."

"You certainly are, and considering I'm personally writing you a letter of recommendation, you'll be able to get any price you name."

"Even 20,000 gold?" she asked and raised an eyebrow.

He snorted, "You could ask for 60,000 gold."

"You're really going to do that for me?"

"Of course."

She stopped walking bowed her head, "Lord Hector…you really are too kind. You're the dearest friend I've ever had."

"You shouldn't say that too loud, Lyn might get jealous."

"She knows. You've really done so much for me. I don't know how to repay you."

He could do it now, he could tell her now. But somehow, like this…it didn't feel right. It was like he was saying his final words to her in case they didn't make it. To him that was akin to admitting defeat. He took her hand in his.

"Just promise there will be a day when you say my name without the title without even thinking about it," he said. She looked up at him.

"I promise," she said softly.

* * *

*sheepish grin* Um...I know it's been a while. But would it be worth the wait if I said this is finished? And would it be even more worth it if I said I can now update twice a week? Because that's what's going to happen. Mondays and Fridays. Because the fluff has only just begun!


	15. To the Victor

**Chapter Fifteen:**

**To the Victor

* * *

**

Hector had always been accused of not thinking things through. As he saw the Dread Isle come into view, he now thought of too many things. He decided to beat down the one question that kept popping back up again and again: "What if we don't make it?" He decided to make that a non issue. Whether or not they lived wasn't nearly as important as whether or not they defeated Nergal. He decided to focus on that.

The march to the Dragon's gate was rather silent. Eliwood obviously had Ninian on his mind as he seemed to barely look up from his reins. Lyn was riding confidently along with Kent. She shot him a wistful smile and Hector grinned back. He glanced up at Florina flying above his head. If only he could see her, maybe he could shut out the other question that nagged at him still.

_What if something happens to Florina?_

He finally forgave himself for what happened before, it wasn't really his fault. But if Florina died in this final battle, he'd never let himself live it down. And for once, he did not fear repercussions from Lyn, Serra or any of her sisters. He'd rather die first then see her on a funeral pyre. Ostia be damned, he'd die protecting her, he swore it.

It seemed much too soon, but the Dragon's Gate came into sight. Mark caught Hector's gaze and the lord nodded to him. Mark adjusted his glasses and got to work. The area before the Dragon's Gate was teeming with morphs. Hector's axe cut them down indiscriminately, armored general same was a waifish valkyrie. And through the carnage––if you could call it that as they all crumbled into dust when defeated––Florina was at his side.

Raven saw to the end of Limestella, and the gate was seized. There was nothing left to do but push forward, but upon entering the building, a familiar air filled the room.

"That strange morph from the desert is here," Nils said.

"Then we'll leave all the magic users behind to guard the outside, since they can't fight," Mark said. "We'll take just a few people."

Hector didn't quite understand why Mark chose only five people to fight, or why he left Florina behind, but he would work with the decision.

"Great," Lyn said as they walked in. "A whole room full of tamahawk wielding berserkers."

"I'll go do some scouting for treasure and any other traps," Matthew said.

"And leave the lords to do all the dirty work as usual," Hector said. Matthew bowed irreverently.

"Of course my liege. I wouldn't have it any other way," he said. He disappeared into the shadows, leaving Oswin, Hector, Lyn and Eliwood to fend for themselves. The battle was repetitive and fairly tedious. Unlike the battle outside, the only sounds that seemed to be made were from each other. The morphs didn't cry out in pain. Before, there was the benefit of being outside, but in the magic seal it felt like all sound was absorbed. What was this morph? It seemed to have no other power than to nullify magic, but at the same time, it unnerved Hector so much.

Something about having Oswin there made him less uneasy in a different way than Florina would have made him less uneasy. Hector was still definitely mad and couldn't talk to him just yet, but he knew it would pass. Oswin was just following orders and probably didn't think he'd upset Hector this much. And yet, out of loyalty Oswin was here now. Hector couldn't stand that stalwart sense of duty sometimes. It made it impossible to fully hate Oswin.

"My lord!" Oswin shouted. Hector glanced over his shoulder at the coming tamahawk. He couldn't quite turn around, lest his current opponent take advantage of his diverted attention and kill him. Oswin dashed in front of the tamahawk, taking the hit. Hector then cut down the other berserker without much incident.

"Thank you, Oswin," he said. "Taking one for Ostia again, I see."

"With all due respect, my lord, I didn't stop the tamahawk just for Ostia's sake, though it will benefit if you stay alive," Oswin said.

"Why'd you do it then?"

"If I may be so bold, I took a tamahawk to the chest for a friend."

Hector stared at him for a moment before shaking his head, "You…I wish I knew what to make of you…"

"I'm quite the open book, Lord Hector."

"So you say."

Lyn came running from around the bend.

"Matthew's just opened the door to the morph's room," she said.

"Shall we go then?" Hector said.

"Lead the way," Oswin replied. When they arrived, Eliwood and Lyn were making short work of the morphs. Hector didn't wish for this to continue longer, the others had to be let inside. He went straight for the robed morph. Surprisingly, his attacks did very little damage. The moprh didn't fight back, but he also just didn't seem to go down. _I could cut down another morph three times his size and _this_ guy gives me trouble? Uther would have laughed in my face!_

Eliwood, Lyn and Oswin were all preoccupied with the waves of morphs coming from underground. The morph continued to recover indefinitely. It wasn't until he heard a familiar shrill cry and hear a whizzing sound that things seemed to look up. From over his shoulder, a spear came flying to lodge itself into the morph's forehead. A second followed it and struck him in the arm. With that extra damage, Hector was able to finish him off. With that final strike, Hector felt time freeze. He was able to see the moprh's face clearly for the first time. It was like an old man that had been waiting to die for thousands of years.

_I envied you most of all_, it said. _You were bold and powerful, all that I was not. I hoped you would be the one to end my suffering._

After that, he dissipated and time returned to normal. Hector turned to see Florina in the doorway, Mark just behind her fussing about messing up his tactics.

"Let's end this once and for all," he said. He was addressing everyone, but his eyes locked on Florina's. Hector went to her side as the battle dwindled. She gave him a tired smile, and he put a hand over hers on Huey's reins.

"Remember what I told you? Stay by my side. I need you to do that more than ever now," he said.

"I'll not let you down, Lord Hector," she said. He held up Armands and she held out her spear. She was right behind him as he joined the others as they were going up the stairs to the room where Nergal waited. Athos appeared out of no where.

"Old Greybeard. Where have you been?" Hector asked.

"Never you mind that. We have got bigger issues to resolve," he said. And Hector was raring to go. They were unsure of what awaited them at the top of the stairs. As they entered the wide upper room, where they expected Nergal to be waiting for them. Instead, they were met with something much more sinister. Before them were their former enemies, opponents they had beaten. Nino let out an anguished cry as she saw her step father and brothers.

"What manner of trickery is this?" Hector said. "Nergal's puppets and those Black Fang knaves. I thought they were dead?"

"This is the power of my morphs," Nergal said appearing from a rune circle that shone on the floor. Hector's hand was already on Armands.

"I see you're out for blood already. But what if I made you a morph copy of your brother? It should be enough to satisfy a fragile human like you."

"How dare you say that!"

"You do so much, you place so much value on your friendship with these people. I'll show you what friendship does! I'll show you what friendship has done for me!"

With that he removed the scarf that had always covered his right eye. It was a ghastly scar that ripped off part of his eye lids and gave his eye a creepy stare.

"This is what tender feeling and compassion does to you!"

"Enough! I won't stand by and let you blame others for what your corruption led you to!"

"If you insist on fighting, then so be it!"

Nergal disappeared into the shadows, as did the other morphs.

"Stay on your guard, they're still here," Mark said. "I'm assigning you all to a door, take care of whoever you see behind it. Remember, you can only help them end their misery at this point."

Before the battle began, everyone gave their offers of support. As he looked to his right, where Florina stood ready on Huey, she barely said a word. She only readied her spear and nodded to him. That was all he needed for now. Mark gave orders as usual. Without having questioning his judgment, Hector and Florina went by the door farthest to the back. One by one, each door was unlocked, and the battle raged on. Nino, he could hear, had gotten the door with her father behind it.

"So who do you think we'll be fighting today?" he asked. Florina had become characteristically silent. Hector assumed it was because of the immense amount of stress and pressure that was to come from today's battle. He would accept her silence now, for it wasn't because of fear of him. No, it was of something much bigger than they were.

_And I swear to destroy all that you fear,_ he thought as the stone door opened.

Florina gasped as she saw who was behind it. Lord Darin. Hector remembered him well, not just because he couldn't stand him, but it was the fist time he and Florina fought together. This would be the last time that he'd have to see his face again, though he had to admit, for all the evil Darin had done, he did do some good in bringing him and Florina together in a way.

Florina wasted no time in rushing in first. With her heavy, armor piercing spear, she already was doing a significant amount of damage. But Darin was given new strength in this form. His spear hurtled her way menacingly. Fortunately, Florina was much faster than he was and just kept out of his reach. He did not wish to drag this out longer, with two fatal strikes, Armands bit into Darin's armor. Briefly, before he died, Darin's face regained its normal color and he collapsed.

"W-was that...?" Florina said.

"It might have been Darin. The real Darin," Hector said. He didn't want to think about the possibility for too long. He shuddered at the thought that Nergal would have done this to his brother. He shook his head and pulled the spear from Darin's hands.

"Here. It's much better than the one you have. You'll need it to fight Nergal," Hector said.

"You're going to fight him now?" Florina asked as she turned the spear over in her hands.

"Where else is there to go?"

She smiled and followed him.

"It's almost over. The world is almost safe," he said. She didn't say anything, she didn't even smile in response.

"Are you afraid?" he said as they exited the room.

"No. I'm ready to face anything," she said. "Besides, I'm with you. I believe I'll be all right."

Hector felt new resolve and moved faster. Eliwood came up beside him.

"I hope you weren't looking to fight on alone, just the two of you," he said.

"We all have a stake in seeing Nergal killed," Nils added. Kent rode up from behind and let Lyn off his horse.

"There's no way in the world I'd let you face him alone," she said.

In the corridor in the back, Nergal was there waiting. He pulled his hood over his head and looked downright sinister.

"Oh, Nergal, how far you have fallen," Athos said.

"Don't you dare speak so pityingly to me!" Negal shouted. He launched an assault of black magic Athos's way. There was nothing to stop it, and Athos took some damage. Fortunately, yet another person who had been uncharacteristically quiet and focused was Serra. She was already on the job of healing Athos.

"Well, don't just stand there looking heroic, do something!" she shouted at Hector.

He didn't need to be told twice. Hector ran for Nergal brandishing his axe.

"Why do you do this?" he said. "Is a friendship with that Elbert's son worth that much?"

"I'm doing this for reasons I don't think you can understand anymore," Hector said. Before he could attack first, Nino cast Fimbuvelter. Lyn rushed after her with her Sol Katti and launched a few vicious attacks. As she pulled back she patted Hector on the shoulder.

"My problems are your problems. You don't need to fight alone," she said.

This moment would be written about for centuries. Many claim there was a flash of light before Hector raised Armands in a large arc. The final blow ended Nergal's reign of terror. Or so they thought.

"You all have no idea of what you've done," he said with a wicked laugh. As his laughter died the whole building shook.

"What in blazes!" Hector said as she struggled to keep his balance. Florina grabbed Nils from the ground and had him on Huey with her. The stone wall in the back of the room crumbled to reveal a large room with a swirling portal.

"I remember this place," Nils said. A blinding light filled the room and in its wake three dragons.

"Stay back!" Athos said. "I can fight them off, do not risk your lives unnecessarily!"

"We're already risking our lives just by being here," Hector shouted.

"You know not what you are up against! Stay back!"

The intensity of the order gave Hector pause. He lingered around Eliwood and Lyn. The struggle was spectacular, but obviously one sided. Athos could barely fight back, it was all he could to keep from being fatally wounded.

"So what do we do if he doesn't succeed?" Lyn said.

"We'll do what we can," Hector said. No sooner had he steeled his resolve, did Bramimond appear out of no where.

"All right, this had better be the last magic using person to just materialize from thin air!" Hector said. The man ignored him. He raised his hands and brought forth Ninian. Hector was stunned and turned to Eliwood. His mouth hung open and, if Hector knew him well enough, he had probably stopped breathing.

"Restore the dragon girl's soul to her body," Bramimond said. And just as instantly she was gone from them, she was returned, obviously disoriented. Yet, Bramimond insisted that she could take on the three dragons. And much to Hector's––and everyone else's––surprise, she did. In a burst of power, she encased all three dragons in ice, killing two of them. She collapsed before the third could be finished off.

_You've done more than enough for us, Ninian,_ Hector thought. Not only were most of their enemies gone, but he saw a new hope in Eliwood and Nils's faces. Even Florina seemed to have a rekindled fire in her eyes.

"I know it looks intimidating guys, but you have to keep that thing from moving!" Mark said. "Back it into a corner, Serra stay back and keep everyone healed. Magic users, don't go any closer than you have to. Lyn, Eliwood, Hector: attack on my command."

That meant an intrepid few had to be on the front lines hemming the dragon in. Without being asked, several of those from the army rushed ahead. Oswin, Kent and Marcus Hector expected to take on such a role, but when Florina flew to join them, it took everything in his power not to pull her right off Huey's back.

"Why is she doing this?" he grumbled.

"For you. For me. For all of us," Lyn said. "She's not exempt from pain and death just because you love her."

Hector blinked in surprise and Lyn punched his arm.

"You're not hard to figure out," she said. "And you're not the only worried about losing someone today."

Hector heard the leather of Lyn's glove tighten around the hilt of her sword. Kent was on the front lines, she had just as much to lose as he did.

"Hector…you promise that it will be safe for me to leave Caelin when we return?" she said.

"On my word," he said.

"That's all I need to hear."

Mark came before them his hand raised.

"Here comes the first fire," he said. "I'm telling you guys, it won't be pretty. You're going to see people burned very badly. Just attack, don't worry about them."

The idea of ignoring a friend in pain, especially Oswin and Florina bothered Hector. But he had to attack, he had to make sure there wouldn't be cause for them to be hurt again. The heat from the dragon's fire was so strong, it pushed them back. Mark held his ground, covering his eyes, but never relinquishing his position.

"Go! Go now!" he cried.

Lyn, Eliwood and Hector led the charge. The elder magic users were just behind them: Athos was wielding Foreblaze, Lucius had Aereola, and Canas had Apocalypse open and was casting as he ran. The magic users struck first from a bit of a distance. Hector could feel the extreme shifts of power, as though the very fabric of existence was moved because of the casting of the spells. Lyn was the first to make a physical strike, wounding the dragon in the arm. Eliwood caught it square across the chest. As he neared to strike, he heard the clear sound of Nils's flute in his ears. Unlike the many times he'd heard Nils's songs before, this tune filled him with added confidence.

He raised Armands above his head as he leapt into the air and cleaved the dragon's head off with his final blow. He pulled this weapon from the dragon's bloody form and drew back. That was that. There was no more darkness to shadow his world.

* * *

Much to Hector's dismay, he was wrong. There was much darkness left in the world and there was nothing he could do to stop it. Even more disheartening was Athos's death and the departure of Nils. Just to heap onto the bittersweetness of the victory, those who took the dragon's fire first were severely burned. It was nothing that couldn't be healed with just a few sessions, but it was enough to cause Hector to feel guilty. Serra allayed this guilt by tending to Oswin and Florina as soon as possible. The treatment was effective enough to allow them all to ride out of Dragon's Gate bandaged up.

The sun was peering through the trees. Hector breathed deeply. No matter what was to come, he was glad that they had stopped Nergal at least. And maybe for a few years there would be peace.

"We made it, Lord Hector," Florina said. He spun around to face her as she came down the stairs leading Huey. He put his hands on either side of her face and pressed his forehead against hers.

"Call me 'Hector,' please," he said. "I'm sorry you were hurt."

"I'm not," she whispered.

"Florina, please continue to stay by my side," he said.

"H…Hector…"

He pulled his face away, hoping to see her vibrant, blushing cheeks. She stammered uncontrollably as he hoisted her onto his shoulders. He didn't know how just yet, but he'd have her with him always. She smiled down at him, her cheeks red with excitement.

Yes, the future looked bright.

* * *

Okay, I promise this isn't the end. I mean, originally I was going to end here, but that would be just cruel. So it will continue. What follows from now on are a series of shorts based on the 30_kisses prompts on LiveJournal. If "30_kisses" doesn't tip you off to the fluff content, I can't help you. But at least I've built you up to the point where the fluff now has a degree of meaning. See you all Monday!


	16. The Road Home

**Chapter Sixteen:**

The Road Home

* * *

"You are coming back to Ostia…right?" Hector asked. Florina was startled by the question. It was fairly late in the evening, she had just finished brushing Huey, and Hector came to see her as had been his custom as of late. After finally working up the nerve to talk to him, conversation slowly grew between the two and Florina felt it safe to call him her friend. She looked at him with wide eyes before shifting her gaze down to her hands and juggling the brush a little.

"I'm…not sure," she said softly. "Adjusting is hard for me…I know so many of the knights in Caelin…"

She looked up at him, her mouth slightly parted, trying to elaborate but failing completely. He may have been a little disappointed, his eyes darted quickly to the side but locked on hers immediately after.

"You already know Oswin, Serra, Matthew, and me. That's all the people you really need to know," he told her. "But it's your decision. We'll be back in Ostia in about a week and a half and Lyn and Eliwood have agreed that most will regroup and leave in the following week. That's about seventeen days. Please consider staying."

Florina was silent for a while before she finally let a small smile grace her lips.

"You're making an awful lot of fuss for a simple vassal," the pegasus knight remarked.

"I've told you time and time again, don't bring up rank!" the lord snapped. "You're my friend and _I_ want you with me."

"Lord Hector…"

"Hector."

"_Hector_…I'm just not sure…"

The fact that they were friends was very apparent to her. Florina believed that friendship was all they shared, and she wanted more from him. Florina knew she wanted more than anything in the entire world to be his wife. After the final battle, he hoisted her onto his shoulders and she felt closer to kissing the sky than she ever did while riding her pegasus. She knew she could never bear seeing another woman in a place she wrongfully wished was hers.

* * *

Sorry for the delay. I was rushing out the house yesterday morning and didn't get in until late. But the next update will be Friday as promised.


	17. The Space Between Dream and Reality

**Chapter 17**

The Space Between Dream and Reality

* * *

In his dreams, Florina would stay in Ostia with him. She would openly flirt with him, fostering a feeling of ease and electric attraction between the two of them. Then she would fling herself into his arms, he would propose, they kiss and then came "The End" etched in archaic letters.

Hector knew that was far from the end in any relationship and that Florina as characterized in his dreams was far from being the woman he loved. Though he managed to get her to talk to him, she still had her moments where she would stammer uncontrollably or fall silent in the middle of a thought. In general when she spoke her voice was very soft.

Usually when a girl fumbles for words and blushes around a man, the general assumption is that she likes him. Not so with Florina, that was her reaction to all conversation, especially with men. Hector had no real indication as to whether or not she really felt that they were more than just friends. The girl was so ridiculously meek, she didn't realize that he was in love with her and wouldn't dare go after someone so far above her station.

As if he cared whom she was born to. What mattered to Hector was that she was alive and understood him so well. Most women didn't comprehend the idea of just leaving your home for months on end. For Florina that was life. Though it was for Lyn as well he supposed, but Florina didn't quickly judge his decisions to leave. If anything, she worked on impulse at times just like he did.

She was not one to scold him for being stubborn. He still remembered Oswin's amazement as she got him to consent to going to Serra for an ailment he had. It had been nothing, just like he thought, but just remembering the weight of Florina's hands on his shoulders and the way she stuttered and pleaded with him just to let Serra look at his sore throat. It was so utterly endearing, he simply could not refuse.

Hector certainly hoped that she would stay with him. If she didn't stay, he'd have to write to her and Hector was no wordsmith. He at least wanted her to see his sincerity in person. He cared for her beyond what he could express. Despite the difficulties that real life Florina posed, he'd take her over dream Florina any day.

* * *

I did say these would be short. Please stick around until next Monday when I give you more fluffy goodness. Seriously, Monday's entry is one of the scenes I wanted to write so badly, I wrote it out of order and kept it in a "secret" folder on my computer.


	18. Perfect Blue

**Chapter 18**

Perfect Blue

* * *

It had been a while since she climbed a tree. Florina found a good sized one after camp had been set up for the day and set to making her way up the branches. The rough bark lent some security some how, and she climbed pretty high, and settled on a sturdy branch to lounge on. Straddling the wide arm of the tree, she leaned her back against the trunk and looked up at the sky that was blocked mostly by leaves. Fiora had the same color blue eyes. You could tell that she belonged to the sky.

A voice called for her. Florina leaned forward and rested the length of her body against the tree branch so she could see the source of the cry, though she knew very well who it was. Lord Hector must have finished discussing important matters with Eliwood. She curved up her legs so that they would kick idly in the air and smirked unabashedly. Would he see her?

Hector walked right past her and before she knew it, Florina had giggled. Ugh, she had given herself away! He looked up and saw her lounging on the wide tree branch. He grinned and crossed his arms.

"What are you doing up there?" he shouted. She smiled and shrugged.

"Not much," Florina replied.

"Care if I join you?" he asked. The girl sat up and leaned back.

"You're the lord, and I am a vassal. Whatever you say goes."

"You know I hate it when you do that," he told her as he began to remove his cape and armor. He climbed to about her height with ease. There was an equally as thick branch just an arm's length away and he settled there, his back against the tree trunk, legs stretched against the branch.

"The sky is so blue today," she remarked.

"Hm…I guess so," he said. "It's the same color as your eyes."

Florina smiled slightly and tried to hide her expression with her hands.

"I like the color of your blue eyes better. It's deeper and…well it's perfect," she answered. Instantly she wanted to take it back. "I'm sorry! I-I was being too f-forward…"

"No you weren't," he snapped.

"But you're…and I'm just—"

"Florina, do you know why I don't want you to think about me as a lord?" Hector asked. Florina looked down at her hands and shook her head. Was this it? Was he going to tell her how he felt?

"I want you to see me as a person. I don't want there to be any walls between us. When we're together I'm just Hector and you're just Florina, you got that?" he told her.

Florina didn't respond. Why did he want things like that? She wanted to ask, but was afraid of the answer. It would simply be, "Because you're my best friend!" She would resent the idea more than anything. There was a long period of silence and the two of them just looked up at the sky.

"Sky blue is the perfect color," he said. Florina looked over at him quizzically and he turned his head to look back and smile. This wasn't fair; he couldn't tease her with love like this and expect her not to want more. She sniffed and felt her bottom lip tremble.

"Hey, hey! Most girls would like to be complimented," he replied. She tears rolled down her cheeks and she tried to wipe them away quickly.

"I'm sorry, Lord Hector…" she said. She swung her legs over the branch and got ready to climb down the tree. It wasn't easy going, the tears blurred her vision and she was trying to make a hasty get away, so she slipped and almost missed a branch or two. All the while she was aware of Hector descending just above her. She reached the ground and was about to run away, but she tripped over Hector's armor. He came to her side and helped her up, in between all her sniffles, sobs and hysterics.

"I'm sorry, Florina. What ever I said…I didn't mean to upset you," he said. "Please, don't cry."

She started to pull away, but he had a firm grasp on her arm. He leaned forward and kissed her cheek. Florina stopped struggling for a moment, even though she wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. She found that she was quite unable to escape his strong embrace that followed. Now she was only more frustrated than ever and she sobbed into his shoulder. This wasn't fair; she wouldn't always have a place in his heart and in his arms.

What right did she have to claim that place? She was nobody, nothing, just a girl with the sky blue eyes that he indirectly claimed were perfect.

* * *

So there we are. This one is a little bit longer. See you all next update!


	19. Jolt!

**Chapter Nineteen:**

Jolt!

* * *

He wondered what her hands felt like. Florina was a warrior so they probably weren't very soft. A soft woman wouldn't last at his side at any rate. Florina rose to the challenges be it archers, swordsmen or even death. She braved poison, magic, dragons all just to remain by his side, and only the rugged hands of a fighter could help her withstand such odds.

He'd have hardened fingertips brush against his cheek, calloused fingers tickle his neck and rough palms rake long, passionate strokes down his back. Those would be Florina's hands, he would want for no others. He would use his hands too, holding her head still so he could look her in the eyes, until she turned bright pink. She would try to dart her eyes away, but there would be no escaping his gaze.

His thumb would be used to trace her chapped lips. He knew they were chapped, he could tell by the way she'd lick her lips. That only served to make him want to kiss her even more. Maybe he'd lick her lips for her every so often, though he had heard that too much licking could make for a messy kiss (Oh, the odd tidbits of wisdom Sain had). Hector wasn't sure of the balance, but he really could care less. Love was often a messy business.

During the kiss, she'd use her hands to grip his shirt, making tight fists. He'd have his hands slide down to the curve of her hips and…

"Lord Hector?"

The young lord jumped with a start. There, standing at his tent, where he had been sleeping, was Florina. He was embarrassed to say that right then he was certainly glad she couldn't read his thoughts. They were anything but pure and innocent right then, but even lords weren't saintly men. The pegasus knight mistook his silence for annoyance at using his title and she shuffled her feet a little in discomfort.

"Um, I'm sorry…_Hector_, Mark and Oswin want you to help them discuss the details of how everyone is going to be paid," she told him. He nodded and turned over in his cot.

"Wait for me outside, I'll be right there," he replied. It was about ten minutes before he had his wits about him to go outside and face her and not act on what he had been dreaming about. Dreams were often a reflection of what preoccupied one's mind, and Hector knew that Florina had been in every single dream he'd had lately. She smiled at him and started to walk ahead, but he grabbed her wrist. He pulled her to his side and peeled off a glove. She stuttered and questioned, and he simply grasped her hand and led her along.

True, he couldn't act on _everything_ he had been thinking about, but he could know for sure what her hands felt like.

* * *

Is all this slow build up and short bite sized chapters of barely fluff too much to bear? (evil smile)...Good. Things will pick up in a chapter or two, I promise.


	20. In a Good Mood

**Chapter 20**

In a Good Mood

* * *

Florina was all tingles and nerves. First Lord Hector had kissed her on the cheek. No one else had seen that, and she was sure it was more of a friendly gesture because she had been crying at the time. Then he had taken her hand and strolled with her through the camp. Now _everyone_ saw that and it seemed there were rumors of all kinds. Priscilla and Sain seemed to be at the heart of it, but that was no matter.

Florina didn't really care what people said, she was all jittery with just her own thoughts. He was very close to her, he wanted to be around her, she knew it. How close he wanted to be was…well she knew she shouldn't just assume. Hector wouldn't beat about the bush. If he loved her, he would have said so.

She lay on her cot as the sun began to filter through the fabric of her tent; her heart pounding at the thought of Hector's lips against her skin. The pegasus knight placed her hand on her cheek and then she slid her fingers so that they rested against her lips. She could dream of another kiss, but it would most likely not happen.

This attachment was all platonic, she convinced herself, to pursue it in any other way would be pointless. He would marry someone in his rank and be perfectly happy. Florina had once wished that at least that would be Lyn, but now she just wished that she would never know. She would rather just know he was enjoying his life than ever see the woman he'd come to love. If Florina had an idea of who she was then she would agonize forever about it, comparing and judging herself as worthless.

She left her tent, only to walk straight into Hector. He steadied her, his hands on her shoulders.

"Hey…I was just coming to see you," he said. "Care to go for a walk?"

He held out his hand and Florina took it a bit hesitantly.

"I'll come with you," she told him with a smile. He smiled back and they went along. Oh, she knew that she would go back to worrying about rank and some day being replaced in Hector's heart by some spoiled rich cow of a woman. She could worry about what people would say when she said that as far as she knew, she and Hector were just friends. ("Lord Hector doesn't walk around the camp holding hands with Lord Eliwood!" Serra told her) For right then, she was just content to be with him.

* * *

Hurray, chapter 20! (throws confetti) And I do promise, things will pick up certainly next chapter. Though you will be screaming at the computer this Friday...They're inching closer to each other and the plot thickens!


	21. The Sound of Waves

**Chapter 21**

The Sound of Waves

* * *

Camp had set up beside a lake. Most in the former army weren't influenced one way or the other, but Hector was excited. He loved swimming, and couldn't wait to jump in. It seemed others had similar ideas, Lyn and Rebecca had already swam out pretty far, Guy and Sain were taking it easy, floating aimlessly on their backs. Hector knew he should be scandalized by the women swimming in thin dresses, but he was preoccupied with the idea of the getting into the water.

As he was removing his tunic, Florina zipped past him and ran into the lake. Before he could fully register that he had seen more of her slender, shapely legs than he ever had before, she was already waist deep in the water. She turned to him with some untold mischief in her eyes.

"Are you coming?" the pegasus knight asked. He nodded.

"Then you'd better hurry up!" she giggled. Hector found himself chasing after her, swimming to her side as she continued to giggle with excitement.

"What are you up to?" he asked. Florina laughed some more. Her ease around him after all the stuttering and formality (even though there was still a lot of formality…) was comforting to him and he loved her light giggling. She pointed to a rock ledge some distance away. It was pretty tall, but still a relatively easy climb.

"I'm going to jump off," she said. "It's like flying!"

Hector liked that idea; it was fun and adventurous, which was distinctly uncharacteristic of Florina. This only made him more intrigued. Together they swam to the rock ledge and tried to beat each other up the rocky slope.

Upon reaching the top with an unclear winner, Hector was reminded how much he hated heights. Florina seemed to notice for she looked up at him, that impish mischief in her eyes.

"I'm going to do it," he said. "So don't look at me like that."

"Do you need some help?" she asked. Hector had to admit, this side of Florina was…interesting.

"Here's what we'll do: on the count of three we'll both jump," she suggested. He grabbed her hand.

"One…"

"Two…"

"Three!"

The two jumped, sailing through the air and into the crisp waters below. For a few seconds they were submerged below the water, and in a few more they were back to the surface, sputtering and laughing. They swam over to the rock side so they could rest before swimming back toward the others. Climbing onto a large boulder, their clothes plastered themselves against their wearers' bodies, and both "friends" were trying not to study each other too hard.

"What's with you today?" Hector asked Florina. "You're acting…different."

"I'm just being me," she said, seeming to be preoccupied with the clouds above.

"You're being you? Does that mean you're not going to act all shy around me anymore?"

Florina's expression changed, the smile disappeared, "I-I'm sorry. Was I being inappropriate?"

Hector cursed himself for saying anything. "No," he told her. "No, no you're fine."

Florina looked down at her lap, her long wavy hair covering her face from his view. Hector brushed the hair back over her shoulder. He carefully traced the remains of a wound that had scared over on her shoulder. It was deep and his heart sank as he remembered how serious her injuries more and it hurt him even more that he was the cause of her pain. She shivered under his touch but didn't look up.

"Florina…"

He tilted her chin up so she could face him. Her face was already red and her voice was gone. It was almost as though she became fully conscious of where she was, who she was with and what they both were doing. He ran his fingers through her hair.

"L-Lord…Hector…"

He leaned in closer to her, just holding her face near his, their eyelashes fluttering against each other like butterfly kisses. That set the tone, he was moving in slowly. Florina was still, perhaps out of fear and panic. Their breath mingled together and Florina seemed to be leaning in closer herself—

"Florina! Hector!" Lyn cried from some distance away. Damn it. Florina had pulled away and was back in the water headed toward Lyn in less than a heartbeat. It took Hector a lot more than several heartbeats to get over his frustration and start swimming again.

* * *

I've been trying to upload this chapter for days, but the system was all, "Yeah, no. Not going to do that." But yes, yes I am aware of how evil I am.


	22. Dash

**Chapter 22**

Dash

* * *

Florina filled the pail with water. Water made her think of the lake. She had been swimming at the lake with Lord Hector. Lord Hector…he almost…She lugged the pail back to the stables deciding to concentrate on work. Only work. Only brushing Huey. Not nearly as gently as Hector ran his fingers through her hair but…this was only work. That was all she was going to think about. Not a certain Ostian lord whose rugged physique made her swoon. She admitted to nothing!

Florina dropped the pail and brush and sat dejectedly in the stall. Huey rubbed his nose against her cheek. She kissed her pegsus' nose and rubbed his ears.

"Oh, Huey…what did I get myself into?" she asked. She was not ready to become Lady of Ostia. That was what this was all coming to in the end; at least she hoped. There have been lords who kept mistresses, but Hector was easily overwhelmed by one woman, Florina could not imagine him juggling two.

She figured Hector being difficult to live with, but adjusting over time. It was the nobility, decorum and courtly manners she was afraid of. Florina could not bear the stigma that would be attached to her. It was bad enough that most people in Lycia look down on Ilians, it was even worse that she was a commoner. A mercenary. A woman with marks and scars. She was everything that a Lady of Ostia should not be.

To protect Hector from the headaches that would ensue from such an imprudent match, Florina had to separate herself. Or at least change. How would she change? How could she avoid Hector? Florina had no plan. Dejectedly she went through the motions of caring for Huey. Still finding no answer after her work was through, she headed out of the stable and found herself face to face with Lord Hector. She had forgotten he would almost always search her out in the late evening.

"You finished early today," he commented. She looked down, and nodded.

"Don't start with the silent thing again, I want you to talk to me," he said.

"I…all right," she said softly. Florina wanted to leave, she wanted to go, but there was no where to run.

"Florina, are you upset about what happened at the lake?" he asked. She shook her head.

"N-no. We had fun," she told him. Hector sighed.

"You know what I'm talking about, stop pretending like you don't know," he replied.

"Nothing happened," Florina whispered.

"Something sure as hell happened," Hector snapped losing his patience. "Are you uncomfortable with me now or what?"

Yes, she wanted to say. Yes, and she was afraid of what it all meant. Florina found herself unable to communicate and all that came were tears. She dropped the pail and brush and ran as fast as she could out the other side of the stable.

* * *

I was out all day yesterday and didn't get home until late. I thought I'd give you guys another update. Hopefully, nothing else will delay the update on Friday.


	23. Fence

Chapter 23

Fence

* * *

They were just days away from Ostia. In one week he would know for sure whether or not Florina would stay. It seemed that she would most likely opt to leave. He wouldn't blame her, he had snapped at her when she was already stressed out about the situation. What could he do, what could he say to make her change her mind? After "I'm sorry," he had no idea, and with the way she was avoiding him, he was sure he'd never get to tell her. Why was he so gruff with her the other day? He felt like a complete idiot.

Florina spent her days talking with Lyn and Fiora. Serra dragged her around for a stint, Florina even spent time with Oswin. It was only logical seeing as how when he married Fiora they'd be family, but still, Hector felt left out of her life.

Now there was a fence between them. It wasn't quite a wall, because he could see her, he could even touch her and talk to her (albeit one sided and briefly). She could blow kisses if she wanted, but it was a fence in the idea that no matter how close he tried to get, all Florina had to do was take a step or two backwards and he couldn't reach her. Then it was agonizing because he could still see her, but he couldn't stop her if she wanted to pull farther away.

The good thing about fences is that they were easier to climb over than walls.

* * *

This was unforgivably short. I'll be uploading another chapter in a few minutes.


	24. Wada Calcium CD3

Chapter 24

Wada Calcium CD3

It started with a cough. In the final leg of the trip, Hector had a long hacking cough and it worried Oswin and justifiably so. More than half the nobility of Ostia had just died from an illness that started with a cough and no amount of excuses was going to stop Oswin from making Hector take good care of himself. His parents ignored his council, Uther had shunned the doctor's orders, but not Hector. Hector was taking every pill every prescription every minute of bed rest suggested.

Hector had other ideas. It had begun to rain steadily and despite the chill and the damp, the lord spent his days in search of Florina despite Serra's suggestion of taking it easy before a really serious illness caught up with him. Florina found herself feeling guilty because she avoided him, and he would spend hours on a wild goose chase. Florina curled up in Nino's tent with her friend's comforting words and Jaffar's silence. Hector never went there because he didn't really care for Jaffar, though he warmed up to Nino.

"You know…he's going to get very sick running around in the rain looking for you," Nino commented. Florina sniffed as tears came. She knew. Nino and Jaffar disappeared shortly before they made it to Ostia. Hector was getting progressively more and more ill with each day he spent running in the rain.

"Florina, you really can't avoid him forever," Ninian said as Florina rested her head on her friend's lap. "You have to talk to him about what happened and how you feel about it. I think he needs to know."

Hector arrived in Ostia in bad health. His cough had worsened, he was sneezing and he had a light fever. Serra was outraged with him and had the poor lord confined to his room.

"I told you that if you had to go tramping about in the rain to take your pills!" Florina heard her shout as she hid behind a pillar just outside his room.

"I don't need your stupid medicine," Florina heard him retort with an obviously stuffy nose. Serra stormed out of the room, and Florina stepped from her hiding place. The pink haired girl eyed Florina in annoyance at first, after all, it was _her_ fault that Hector was sick and cranky. It was also known that she could get Hector to agree to almost anything.

"You're coming with me to give Hector his pills," Serra ordered. "I don't know what's going on with you two, but you're the only person he really has the patience to listen to."

Florina blushed at that. A tray was put in her hands and before she could really begin to protest, Serra had pushed her into the room. Hector was lying on his side facing his window, his back toward her.

"I told you, I don't want your stupid pills," he barked. Florina felt a pang of guilt. He really sounded sick and he was only this way because she hid from him and he was running around in the rain. She placed the tray on the bedside table and sat in the chair, silent. Hector coughed painfully and Florina bit her lip and looked down.

"Well, go on. Lecture me about my health or something. I don't care," he snapped. He was blowing his nose into a handkerchief. He'd ask for a new one soon, he had a stack by his bed. He really hated sniffling and tolerated it in no one, not even himself. He made an exception for Florina and she did her best not to upset him, but when tears came, so did sniffles. That time was no different. Her guilt at seeing him sick because of her made her cry, and her nose began to run.

"Ugh, you know I hate sniffling," Hector grumbled, turning over expecting to see Serra spilling crocodile tears, but was completely caught off guard upon seeing Florina.

"I'm…sorry," the pegasus knight said trying to dry her tears in haste. Hector sat up slowly and grabbed one of his extra handkerchiefs and wiped her nose.

"There, there…" he said softly. "I thought you were Serra. I should have known it was someone else, you were far too quiet to be her."

"I brought your pills," Florina told him. "I'm worried about you. It's my fault you're sick."

"No," the lord replied. "I chose to ignore Serra's orders, I got sick because I didn't listen."

He coughed long and hard. Florina patted his back and he wheezed a little before he regained full composure.

"Please take your pills," she asked. "If nothing else to ease my guilt."

Hector stared at the glass and the array of three colored spheres that accompanied it.

"I'll take them if you promise to stay and talk to me for a little while," he requested. She nodded in agreement. He smiled and reached for the medicine.

"What do you want to talk about?" she asked. He swallowed the first pill.

"What happened at the lake," he told her. It was Florina's turn to swallow.

"What about it?"

Another pill. "It's changed things between us. Are you uncomfortable around me?"

Florina didn't answer right away and Hector took the pill while he waited for her reply.

"Yes," she finally told him and began twisting the hem of her skirt. The last pill was in his hand. He studied it for a while.

"I see," he said softly. He put the pill in his mouth and with a swig of water swallowed that one as well. They both were silent, and Florina was blinking back more tears. This meant that things were over now, she was sure. Much to her surprise, Hector placed his hand over one of hers.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you or be so forward," the lord told her. "Please don't be afraid of me. I don't want to hurt you."

She looked at him with wide eyes as he raised her hand to his lips. The fact that he was ill didn't worry her so much as the gesture had surprised her. Her face turned bright red, but that was her reaction to almost everything…

"You have to tell me things like this Florina. I can't read your mind," Hector said.

"I…I understand. Now try to get some rest," she suggested trying to brush off her flustered demeanor. He nodded and she pulled the covers up to his chin. She resisted the reflexive urge to kiss his cheek, like she would have a child. She left the room and closed the door with a long sigh. This exchange only proved to Florina that she had to come up with some way to change and soon.

See you all on Monday!


	25. Invincible Unrivaled

**Chapter 25**

Invincible; Unrivaled

* * *

Lord Hector would not accept defeat from a cold. That was just out of the question. He had faced enemies of all sizes and sorts, of varying power. There was no way, no way in hell he was going to die from a cold. Or now it wasn't a cold, it was quite certainly something else. The coughing was terrible enough, the fever and sweating was no walk in the park and the chills were even worse. That didn't matter, the wielder of Armands would not die peacefully, so he wasn't going to die now.

Serra was keeping a good watch on him, keeping his medicine coming, but he would give anything to just be able to get the heal and go convenience provided by the healing staff. Unfortunately, illnesses weren't something a magic laced stone could cure. Serra obviously wished he was a quick fix as well, as she often whined that Hector was a difficult patient. He was not only a general complainer, but it was also hard to get him to listen to what she suggested or take what she prescribed. He knew exactly how difficult he was and he made no move to change it. The lord couldn't explain why he didn't want to take care of himself when ill, he just felt no need; germs and viruses were nothing, and he wouldn't die from such things.

After a shouting match with Serra, that the pink haired girl was only winning because Hector was tired and couldn't yell very loudly anymore, Florina came by to see him. Her presence changed the air in the room considerably. Serra left her with some instructions and stomped off and Florina only smiled at him. Hector snorted and put a hand on his forehead.

"Guess with this picture of Ostian nobility, you probably won't want to stay…" he said hoarsely. She shushed him and poured some of the medicine Serra had left on a spoon. The pegasus knight held it out to him and he took it. It tasted horrible, but he swallowed it obediently. At least in the rare moments he was forced to obey Florina she wouldn't lord it over him.

"You have to take care of yourself," Florina cooed wiping his forehead with a cool towel.

"Why can't you do it for me?" he asked. Florina giggled and sat on the bed. Her leg gently brushed against his through the fabric of the sheets. He wished for more contact, to be able to touch the soft skin of her neck, feel her body pressed against his. For now they were separated by a sheet. He had blankets before, but those got hot and he kicked them off. Soon he'd be cold and begging for them again…

"I may not always be here for you," she replied. He placed his hand over hers.

"Are you leaving Ostia then?" he asked. She breathed in sharply and looked down.

"I…I'm not sure yet…" she whispered. What could he say? What could he do? He couldn't make it any more painfully obvious that he loved her short of saying it, could he?

"I need you to stay," he told her.

"I'll be with you until you get better," Florina replied.

"And then what? Where will you go?"

Florina didn't answer, her face grew red and she sniffed back tears. Hector would have given anything to wipe them away, tell her everything would be all right and nuzzle his nose against hers. A Sacaen kiss that had been called; he wasn't sure why, Lyn seemed to skip the nuzzling and went straight for the lips with Kent. Though it seemed that both Kent and Florina needed more than gentle prodding.

"I am not ordering you to do this, but I am making a humble and heartfelt request that you stay in Ostia with me," he said. She looked directly at him, biting her bottom lip.

"Why?" she asked in a barely audible voice. It was Hector's turn to be silent. There was only one simple, direct way to tell her and that's what it came down to.

"I love you, Florina," he answered, squeezing her hand. She looked up, almost alarmed.

"Lord Hector, you shouldn't say such rash things when you're—"

"I'm under the weather, not insane. I have a fever, I'm not delirious. Florina I know what I said and I meant it. I love you and want you by my side," he told her. Florina stared at him for what seemed like an eternity, her face turning several shades of red and pink.

"I don't know how you feel for sure," Hector began, breaking the ice. "I just…I needed you to know that for yourself."

She nodded and drew her hand away. The pegasus knight got up and very slowly, she withdrew from the room. It was then Hector knew that he could withstand battle wounds, illnesses of all sorts, but he was sure heartbreak would be the hardest challenge of all to overcome. Perhaps he was not so infallible as he had thought…

* * *

I'm going to make the offical updates Tuesdays and Fridays. It's obvious I never have time to even sit at a computer much less update on Monday. Oh yes, I've been dangling that confession for ages now, but finally the truth is out! You can't get away now, Florina! Or can she? (laughes evilly) On Friday you'll find out...


	26. Kiss

**Chapter 26**

Kiss

* * *

Lord Hector only got worse from that day on. Serra had tried to console Florina, telling her that the disease he had naturally progressed this way and he'd be better soon (she hoped). Still, Florina couldn't shake this feeling that she had something to do with his progressing illness. People got worse some times when they experienced a drop in spirits. What could she do? He had told her out of the blue that he loved her and she didn't know how to react.

That was a loaded phrase. It hinged on her feeling the same, which Florina was absolutely sure she did. She had never in her life cared about someone as much as she did for Hector. She wished that she was ready. She wished that she could be what Hector needed. He needed a Lady of Ostia, and he was asking a mouse of a girl to fill that role. It was hard and even undying love would not fill all the gaps in her. She just needed more confidence. Fighting Nergal was a good boost, but she needed just a little more.

That was why she talked with Lyn and Kent. They were going out to the plains of Sacae and Florina wanted to go. She needed just a few months. She promised not to be in their way, she really just needed to go and explore and probably would end up wandering on her own than under them. After all, they were going to be a married couple. In the tradition of the tribes of Sacae, there was very little involved in marriage, simply that the two move in together. Lyn did offer to have a ceremony if Kent wished it, but he didn't seem to feel particularly strong about it. If only things for her and Hector could be that simple. Perhaps if he was only the brother of the Lord of Ostia it'd be much simpler.

There was no changing what happened now. She also had to cut her losses. She would only be away ten months, back in time for her sister's wedding, but that was enough time for Hector to decide he didn't want to be with her, or find someone else. That would hurt her to no end and she knew she'd just run somewhere else, but she'd rather Hector be happy. Florina knew she couldn't marry him now it was just premature.

Things were settled. Kent and Lyn agreed to leave as soon as Hector got better. Florina just had to see him through this. Fortunately, the lord's illness took a turn for the better within just a day of this decision and within three he was well enough to walk around. Florina wanted to avoid him for a while; she was unsure of how to react to his presence. She knew she'd see him eventually, this was his domain after all. That assumption was correct, for it was barely an hour after finding out he was up and about and she then heard he was in search of her.

Florina decided to search for him and get the hard part over with, and she found him quite easily. He was staring out a window, and still coughing. He was much paler than usual and he had dark rings around his eyes, but he could only get better from there. She hid silently behind a pillar watching him from a distance.

Hector was everything she wanted in a man, he was considerate, confident, concerned for any and all that needed help. He was strong, good looking, physically more than she could ever ask for. She pressed her body and cheek against the cold marble column and hugged it tightly. This could be it. This could be the last time she could stare longingly at him without guilt. He started to walk away from the window and she rushed forward and grabbed the sleeve of his robe.

"Hector?" she said softly. He turned quickly, eyes wide and mouth agape.

"Florina? Did you just call me, by my name, no title?" he asked. She blushed and looked down.

"I-I'm sorry—"

"Don't be!" he said quickly, taking her hands in his and holding them to his chest. Florina felt her face grow hot, oh to be able to rest her head against his broad chest...her fingers alone were tingling just from feeling the rise and fall of his breathing.

"I was worried about you," she whispered looking to the side.

"I heard," Hector answered, gently turning her face so she could look at him. Florina felt her breath catch.

"It was my fault you got worse…" she said, trying to look away from him.

"How's that?"

"You told me you…" her voice failed her, but she tried to continue. "I-I just couldn't say…I can't…"

"So…you're worried because you didn't say anything when I told you I loved you that I got even more sick?" he finished. She nodded. "That wasn't your fault. It couldn't be helped."

"I didn't know what to say…" she told him. "I still don't."

Hector squeezed her hand a little tighter. "Is that why you're leaving?"

She blinked rapidly. How did he know?

"Lyn told me that you all were going to Sacae. Were you going to leave without saying goodbye?" he asked earnestly. "You were going to leave without letting me know how you felt about me?"

Florina was shocked by the emotion in his voice. It was almost desperate for answers.

"I'm going to Sacae, but I'm not leaving," she told him.

"How is that not leaving?"

"I'm coming back in ten months," she answered. "For my sister's wedding. They're getting married and settling in Ostia so…I'll have to come back. And I'm in the wedding so…so I'll be back."

"And will you stay?"

She looked up at him and bit her lip. "Yes. I will."

A grin spread across his face and before she knew it, he pressed his lips against hers. She squeaked in surprise, she hadn't quite anticipated that reaction. His fingers threaded through her hair as he savored the feel of her lips and Florina wrapped her arms around his neck. Florina parted her lips and he took the cue and slipped his tongue in, exploring her mouth only briefly and leaving her aching for more. He pulled away only to rub his cheek against hers.

"I love you," he whispered into her ear. Florina shuddered and gripped his shirt.

"I love you too," she said breathlessly. He held her close and kissed the top of her head.

"Please, please come back to me in one piece. Please…"

"I will," she whispered, wrapping her arms around him and squeezing tightly.

* * *

I will be updating next Tuesday! I'm not finished with these two yet! I've written right up to the epilogue. But what now? Lots of fluff. All the fluff you couldn't have before is going to happen from now on.


	27. News Letter

**Chapter 27**

News; Letter

It was raining and he was still just a little under the weather, but Hector insisted on walking Florina out to her pegasus. He held her hand, possibly the first time he had the opportunity around his servants and already they were whispering. They'd better get used to her soon.

"Ten months is what you need right?" he asked as she hitched her bag onto Huey's saddle.

"Yes. I really, really need it," Florina told him, not quite looking him in the eyes. "But I will be back and I'll stay in Ostia…if you will still have me…"

What did it take to convince this girl that he'd take her in any way shape or form that she offered? He gently planted a kiss on her lips and then one on her forehead. He could hear the maids squealing in the background, but he paid them no mind.

"You will always be welcome in Ostia," Hector told her. He gave her a hug and felt his heart race as she sighed against his chest. He helped her climb onto Huey's back knowing full well she could do it on her own but wanting to savor any contact he could have with her.

"Well, this will be it for ten more months," she said. "I'll write."

He noted she didn't ask him to write to her. It was most likely because she'd be roaming and no one would know where to deliver his message, but it was also likely she heard he was no good with letter writing. She and Huey trotted over to where Lyn and Kent were waiting. Hector bid them each good bye and a safe trip to Sacae. The gates of the fortress were opened and they sallied forth. Hector watched them leave until he could no longer see Florina's pegasus gliding over the horizon.

The lord for once in his life while experiencing some sort of disappointment was eerily quiet. Was it his lethargy due to recently recovering from an illness that kept him that way? He wasn't sure. Old Hector would have had plans to chase after her, but he didn't feel the need to now. He didn't want to intrude on whatever it was she felt she had to do.

Much to his surprise, Fiora came to his side and placed a hand on his shoulder.

"You miss her already, don't you?" she asked. Hector looked down at the elder pegasus sister and sighed. Why did she suddenly look so much like Florina? He always thought they looked distinctly different though you could tell they were related, but now Fiora looked exactly like her.

"She left you this," Fiora said handing him an envelope. Hector smirked and shook his head and thanked her. He walked with purpose to his office where he would soon be signing legal documents and treaties of import to read what Florina had written.

_Dear Lord Hector,_

He sighed in frustration. Even after the declaration of love and spontaneous kiss, she couldn't completely drop the formality.

_If all has gone to plan, my sister has given this letter to you after I am some distance away. I know that dealing with me is often frustrating for you._

Yes, he wanted to tell her, but entirely worth it.

_It's hard for me to verbalize how I feel. I always use the wrong words._

It was funny, Hector thought, it wasn't hard for him to verbalize how he felt, but he still used the wrong words.

_I just want you to be sure that I love you._

He spent a good five minutes just rereading that sentence. What ever else came after that was immaterial. Soon however, he knew that he had to continue.

_It was hard for me to really come to grips with the fact that you felt the same. It is often very dangerous for a vassal, especially one such as myself being a former mercenary in training to fall in love with a person of higher standing. I did not leave because I didn't feel the same. I need you to know that._

Then why, Hector wondered.

_If I am correct in assuming that this attachment will lead to marriage, then I am currently not able to fathom the idea of being Lady of Ostia. I need to have some time to clear my head, and I am sure when I return I will be ready._

_Yours,_

_Florina_

Hector reread the letter, lingering on the words, "I love you."

Ten months would seem like forever.


	28. 10

**Chapter 28**

#10

It had been ten seconds since Florina last sighed over Hector.

It had been ten minutes since she stopped crying.

It had been ten hours since they left Ostia.

It would be ten days until they made it to Sacae.

It would be ten weeks before Lyn and Kent would start to really worry where Florina constantly disappeared to.

It would be ten months until Florina returned to the man she loved. For now she could only operate in ten second intervals and hope to get a long, satisfying kiss upon returning home.

* * *

Yes, I know I said I'd update on Tuesday. And I will. You all will just get extra chapters. Especially because this is so short.


	29. Our Distance and That Person

**Chapter 29**

Our Distance and That Person

* * *

A month passed and Hector received a letter. He instantly cancelled lunch appointments so he could read it alone. It was from Bulgar, with Florina's tiny script handwriting on outside. It was almost as though he could sense the kisses pressed onto the page, his fingers were tingling as he opened the envelope.

_Dear Lord Hector,_

_I trust you are well. The plains of Sacae are beautiful in late spring as they always are. Kent and Lyn are as well as they could ever be. They seem to be taking to married life well. I hardly see them, as I like to leave them to their own devices. I like to be on my own._

Where does she go? What if she gets injured while she's alone? Is there enough for her to eat? What about bandits? What about—

He read on.

_In the past two weeks I stayed with the Kutoloh tribe. Rath and Guy send their regards. Rath is the same; very quiet, but he taught me some basic bow hunting skills so I could catch some food should the need arise. He teased Guy because I took to it quicker than he did and I am not only a foreigner, but a Pegasus Knight._

Hector smiled a little but found himself feeling envious of Rath. He could picture the stoic man touching Florina's arm, adjusting her hold in the bow, reassuring her with a hand on her shoulder. Why did Rath get to be so close to her when he felt nothing for her, but Hector had to be so far away?

_Huey doesn't like the bow, but he seems to know that it wasn't meant to hurt him. It's come in handy when I was hungry._

Worry gripped him. So she was on her own again. She said hungry, but was she in reality starving? There was no way she mastered hunting in just two weeks, so when she left them on the third, did she spend a week hunting using trial and error? If he had been with her, he would have severed a gazelle's head and they would have had food for days at a time. He eyed his Wolfe Beil hanging above the mantle and charted a course for Sacae in his mind.

_I came back to Kent and Lyn after exploring for about another two weeks, and here I am now writing this letter. I'll only stay for about a day. Newlyweds need their privacy you know._

Hector knew Lyn had probably tried to coax her into two days at least, but Florina wouldn't have any of it, he knew. At the same time, he understood her reasoning. When he and Florina were newly weds, he was going away with her for a few months. Or as long as Oswin let him go away…He just needed Florina to himself no sharing.

_I'll be flying into Bulgar tomorrow morning to send this and I plan on finding other tribes to observe. I'll try to send letters more regularly. You need to know how I am doing or else you'll send the entire Ostian Army out to find me!_

How did she know his plan of action?

_Much love,_

_Florina_

His eyes lingered on the "much love" part. He wanted to write back: Please come home. Please hover around me like you used to. Please sneak glances at me when you think I'm not looking. Please be near me so I can touch you, hold you and kiss you. Please be by my side like you promised.

He pressed the letter idly against his lips. Perhaps she'd receive that kiss from thousands of miles away.

* * *

Oh-kay, that's the last letter that will be read to you for a while. And so I don't have people throwing bottles at me for separating the two of them: know, the "Florina is away" part of the plot is pretty short. I mean it's a long time in the story's timeline, but I didn't think it was wise to write about every detail of angst over separation and the wonders of Sacae. No, that could be a fic unto itself and I'm not interested in writing that. Why? Because I spent too much time building up this pairing to not indulge myself now!

The question then becomes: why the separation at all? For the reasons Florina said last chapter and torturing Hector is fun. Also, using all my 30_kisses prompts.

Next update: Friday. If I feel chapter happy again, you may get more for your money (that you're not giving me...).


	30. Cradle

Chapter 30

Cradle

* * *

Florina didn't really want Lyn to worry, but she could tell that she was watching her. Kent was too, he was just some ways off with his horse. Florina decided to ignore their looks and focused on helping them pack up quickly. The three of them had to pick up and go the day Florina came back for the young pegasus knight had come from the Sacean borders wounded and with talk of bandits on her lips. Despite her best efforts and those of the warriors of the tribe she was with, the entire tribe was basically killed and Florina just narrowly escaped.

What haunted Florina for days was the thought of one family, a father, a young mother and a baby. She would see them every morning. Before he left the ger, she'd briefly nuzzle her nose against his, and sent him off. Florina knew this gesture well, a kiss in the tribes of Sacae was rarely bestowed in public, but rubbing noses was quite common.

The young lady would then attend to her child, a baby girl, and her household duties. Florina had to retain her respectful distance. Though during the past month or so Florina had adopted the Sacean garb, she was quite identifiable as an outsider and most tribes would not let her get too close. Still just watching that family every day made her feel as though she were right there.

They made her think about the future for others. Lyn and Kent may have a baby someday. Would their child grow to love this place like his parents did? Lord Eliwood announced his engagement to Ninian just a few months ago. What would their wedding be like? Would she be invited? Would Farina and Dart ever get married or live in sin? Well, they'd be living a life of crime, so it wouldn't matter either way. Will Fiora be happy in Ostia with Oswin? Would Hector…what would life with Hector be like?

A myriad of possibilities played in her head. He'd be obligated to have a grand wedding, though neither of them would want one. How soon would they be expected to have children? Florina flushed every time she thought about such things, but they would have to be addressed. How many children would she be expected to bear? She wouldn't mind having a few. She thought having siblings was a wonderful thing. Hector seemed like he'd be a doting father, probably standing over the cradle of his child well into the night. Fiora said that their father did that when she was born, she'd always hoped if she ever got married that her husband would do the same.

All those musings stemmed from her observation of one family. They were a future everyone's future all rolled in one. Now they were dead.

Was the future dead as well?

* * *

Sorry again for the late update. I'll put up another chapter in a few minutes as an offering of remose...and to try and hurry this plot point along.


	31. Violence, Plunder, Pillage, Extortion

Chapter 31

Violence; Pillage/Plunder; Extortion

* * *

It was too cheerful, too forced. Her handwriting was rushed and harried and those were not raindrops that crinkled the page. Florina had been with one of the border tribes that was raided by bandits. He heard word of them and worried for her. He had hoped she wasn't among the dead, and he forced himself not to think the worst. More like Matthew assured him that there was no reason to think the worst. A pegasus knight would have been easy to spot among the bodies of the Sacean people and his spies had seen nothing out of the ordinary.

Hector knew he should have more confidence. He knew his Florina; if she was there she surely had gotten away. He knew her well enough to also know that she wasn't unscathed. She was injured and ignoring it or she was depressed and afraid and pushing ahead. He hoped she'd come home sooner, but he knew better than to hope such things. It'd been almost seven months, she would stick it out. He imagined her staring blankly out at the plains contemplating the pain of others. Florina would start a letter to him and toss it, restart and then end up frustrated. She wouldn't want to tell him anything that would make him worry. She mentioned that Lyn and Kent had moved closer to Bulgar, he could go see her…

No, she insisted that he stay in Ostia. Florina needed to be alone, but Hector couldn't help but feel odd about staying put. Usually when Florina was in trouble, he was ready and able to assure her safety. He just wished that he could be there, even if she never even got to fight the bandits, he could make sure that she'd be safe and have someone to tell her concerns to.

Florina wasn't one to voice her jealousies, but it had to be a little unfair to her to watch Lyn and Kent comfort each other. A simple look or kiss was reassuring, and Florina had none of that. Was she crying herself to sleep alone?

Hector put her letter down and went to the window in his office.

"Please come home, Florina…" he mumbled. She promised to stay with him, and as long as she was by his side, he would make sure she would feel safe. He vowed that if she ever should try and pull a stunt like this again, he would go after her and not leave her until they returned home.

* * *

Updates will resume on Tuesday and Saturday barring no more bouts of extreme exhaustion. My work schedule leaves me so tired sometimes. I'm glad to be udating regularly, but I'm sorry they're a bit sporadic during the week.

Hector and Florina will be reunited soon, I promise!

And thank you, thank you for sticking around and thank you, thank you for reviewing. I usually just have enough energy to read them and smile. If I could thank all of you who have reviewed, favorited and alerted this story (and my author's page as well for some reason), I would do it! Especially those of you who have been reading for years. I just honestly have no time. Know I'm reading all of your reviews and seeing all of your alerts and greatly appreciating you guys.


	32. RadioCassette Player

**Chapter 32**

Radio-Cassette Player

* * *

She could not believe that almost nine months had passed since she left Hector. She, Lyn and Kent had been staying just a few miles off from Bulgar. Since the bandit raids, Florina didn't venture too far anymore, but she did go off on her own for days at a time. Lyn would always be justifiably worried.

"Where do you go?" she would always ask.

"I'm never quite sure where I'm going when I leave, but I always know what it is I'm looking for when I see it," the pegasus knight answered. Florina had a way of being very open one moment and suddenly enigmatic the next. Lyn was used to it and knew Florina wasn't trying to play games, she just didn't really want to explain her full thought process.

Most of her answer was absolutely true, she didn't leave with a direction, most of the days would be spent hunting, the others would be spent just lying in the grass of the plains just thinking. She seemed to be doing that a lot lately, even on days she'd be with Kent and Lyn.

Florina thought about Hector a lot; almost all the time, but she wouldn't be the one to tell anyone. When she'd be in Bulgar there was a song that had become popular and every saloon, tavern and night spot was singing it. She paid it no mind at first, but the song's title was intriguing, "Axe-Man out of Hell." The more she heard it, the more she thought of Hector. The "wave of destruction caused by his hands," and the "Rouge cape, still bringing the fires of dragons," and his "eyes that seethed of hell's sulfur." In battle that was certainly Hector, she had seen it first hand.

There were other sides to him though. The funniest of all was when Hector wanted her attention. He'd be very patient and wait until she was finished talking with her friends and then instantly take her aside. She was surprised that she never noticed it until now. Despite always being willing to give everyone their fair share in all other aspects of life, he didn't really like to share Florina's attention when he wanted it.

Hector was forbearingly patient with her, and surprisingly gentle. She remembered after all the fun she had swimming, when he brought up that she was acting different, she resumed her old defenses: folded her arms and hunched her shoulders. Florina shivered remembering the way he ran his fingers through her wet hair at the lake, trying to get her to relax.

Oh and she had tried not to look at him with his wet and half opened shirt, but it was hard not to. She always had an idea of what was underneath all that armor and all those clothes, but she never dreamed she'd actually see it. Those broad shoulders, perfectly defined muscles…Florina bit her lip and curled her toes just thinking about him. Shouldn't the woman who captured the heart that beat in that barrel chest be prettier than Florina? Softer, larger breasts, larger hips, no scars, no marks, silky smooth skin, seductive: all the things she wanted to be?

Obviously Hector had to find her a little attractive, but why? Anyone with eyes could see why she was physically attracted to Hector, but was he settling for her? Would he tire of her?

She knew Hector better than that, he wouldn't be so cruel as to love her for her looks alone. She just wished that she could look more like what she thought Hector deserved. However, she had to admit, no one knew what Hector wanted better than Hector himself.

* * *

So we get another udpate on Monday. I just had time today so I thought I'd update.


	33. Look Over Here

**Chapter 33**

Look Over Here

* * *

Florina was coming home any day now. Well, Hector wasn't sure if she called Ostia home yet, but he'd do everything he could to make sure she saw it that way. He wanted to be the first to welcome her back, so he told all the watchmen to inform him as soon as they saw a pegasus knight. Idly, he hoped this wouldn't be the day that the Ilian prince sent for help.

Unfortunately, he was very bogged down with paper work from Caelin. Honestly, he thought most of the work would be over by now, but still there was so much involved in running two provinces at once. Sain was a surprisingly big help considering all the political responsibilities he took on. Granted, Oswin showed him the ropes first, but the Green Knight of Caelin caught on quickly. Still, the paperwork had piled up and he had to get it done.

Naturally, being as anxious as he was for Florina's return as he had been made it hard for him to concentrate on work. Every moment he was expecting someone to come and bring him news of Florina. What would he do when he saw her? Hold her close, tell her not to leave him again, kiss her. Oh yes, there'd be a lot of kissing, he had to make up for lost time. He had been toying with the idea of proposing to her, but Oswin advised that he wait until after his coronation in two more months. Ninian and Eliwood were already engaged, it was announced just three months ago and they were to be married in six more months. Hector just didn't understand why he had to wait, but Oswin wouldn't torture him for nothing. Or would he…

There was a knock on the door and Hector pretended to be busy.

"Come in," he said finally. It was Fiora with a big smile on her face. Either Oswin just said something sweet and she had to come and tell him (which she had only done once and that was more than he could handle), or…

"I saw Florina some distance off while I was flying this morning," the elder pegasus sister told him. "She'll be at the west gate in—"

Hector was already out of his seat and down the hall before she could tell him that she'd be there in ten minutes. He arrived at the gate and told them to open it wide, for a special guest was coming. Fiora and Oswin waited some distance off, allowing their lord to be the first to greet his love. Lovesick Hector was quite novel to Oswin and he was having a great time watching the younger man fret. Florina arrived within just a few minutes and Hector was speechless just watching her. Was he supposed to be finding it hard to breathe all of a sudden? No words came as he watched her climb off Huey's back.

Florina was all decked out in traditional Sacean garb, it was a bit shorter than what he had seen Lyn and Karla wear, but Florina had to make concessions for her own lifestyle. Her clothing didn't concern him, something had changed, but it was good. She was different, an air of quiet confidence.

"It's good to see you again, Lord Hector," she said with a soft smile. Something about the way her cheeks flushed just ever so slightly and the look in her eyes let him know that Florina, despite the changes was still very much the same. Hector wanted to say something eloquent and heart wrenching; instead, he almost literally crushed her in a hug. He eased up enough so she could breathe, and she laughed at his strong reaction to her presence.

"I missed you so much. We fought together and were in each other's company every day for a year and…you being gone so long was hard…" he told her. It had only taken him six months to pinpoint why he felt so broken up about her absence. The good thing was now he could articulate it to her without saying something really stupid. Florina's smile only grew and her cheeks became a darker shade of pink but she kept her eyes on his. He liked this new Florina.

"I missed you too, Lord Hector," the pegasus knight replied. Hector shook his head and stroked her cheek with his thumb.

"I've told you a million times, I'm just Hector to you. I don't want to have to order you not to use my title, but I will if I have to," he told her.

"And how will you punish me if I do not obey?" Florina asked with a bit of a smirk. Hector raised an eyebrow. Well this was new, but it was fun. How should he discipline her?

"I'll have to punish you with kisses," he whispered in her ear.

"That may only reinforce the practice Lord Hec—"

If she assumed he was bluffing, she was quite surprised right then. Taking advantage of the fact that her lips were parted made an opening for a passionate kiss that he had only thought of over and over for the past ten months. He was going to start learning every contour of Florina's mouth, and she responded as best she could; guiding him along. It was an I-missed-you-please-don't-leave-for-that-long-again-because-I-don't-want-to-share-you-with-anyone-like-like-that-ever-again-I-know-it's-selfish-but-I'm-madly-in-love-with-you kiss. If he was fortunate, she caught at least half of that message by the time he pulled away. Her breathless sigh said she understood.

"Welcome home," Hector told her. With one arm around her waist, he led her over to where her sister and future brother in law were waiting.

* * *

What did I tell you? Fluff. All the stuff I couldn't do before because of charcterization and plot is happening.


	34. Excessive Chain

**Chapter 34**

Excessive Chain

* * *

Florina had been on pins and needles for the past few hours. Mostly because she was having her dress taken in for the wedding. Fiora was there to oversee the fitting, which Florina was grateful for. The seamstress was a talkative woman and seemed to be saying a lot of things that were irritating her.

"Your sister gave me your measurements, but I told her that you were going to be among those Saceans," she said. "They probably starved you to death, you're so skinny."

Florina sighed. Why did she have to go there?

"I was on my own most of the time while I was there. If I was starving it was mostly my own fault," Florina replied.

"Oh, so you're the fiery independent type," the seamstress remarked. Florina groaned inwardly. Not quite…

"There you go," the older woman said buttoning the last button. "That should do it."

Fiora smiled brightly, "Oh, Florina it's perfect for you!"

Florina was surprised when she walked over to the mirror and saw her reflection. It was a pale yellow dress, something she would never have chosen on her own. It had a fitted bodice, and a slight train that swept at her toes.

"I tried to cover up that scar you have on your shoulder, and it turned out much nicer than I thought."

Florina was much too preoccupied with twirling her dress to really pay attention to the last statement. There was a knock on the door.

"May I come in?" a male voice called. The seamstress was overjoyed.

"Oh, it's Lord Hector! I'll let him in. You know I've been sewing for this family for ages. When I was sixteen, I helped put the beading on his mother's wedding dress," she said. Florina looked over at Fiora and the older sister shrugged. Hector entered gawked for a while.

"I don't think I've ever seen you in a proper dress," he said. He fell silent, which was distinctly unlike him and stared directly at Florina and her yellow dress, circling around her taking in all the details it seemed.

"Wow, you really out did yourself this time Mirelle," he commented. "I didn't think Florina could get any more beautiful."

"Lord Hector, you're being far too kind," Florina said as she began to twirl a lock of her hair. He quickly gave her a peck on the lips.

"You like being on punishment, don't you?" he whispered. The pegasus knight blushed and tried not to smile too widely.

"Look, I won't keep you. Mirelle isn't quite finished, if I know her. But this is for you."

He handed her a small, oblong box. Upon opening it, she gasped. Inside was a necklace, a delicate chain with small charms inlaid with yellow gems.

"I…I've never received any jewelry in my life," she whispered.

"Well let this be the first time of many. Here, let me help you put it on," Hector offered. She pulled her hair off her neck and he fastened the clasp for her. "Do you like it?"

"I believe her stunned silence says it all," Fiora interjected. Hector laughed and gave Florina a quick hug.

"Remember you two, we're all having dinner with Oswin tonight," he said before he left. Florina sighed and touched a hand to her necklace.

"Sooooo…" Mirelle began. "You're the one my lord was stir crazy about for ten months. I wouldn't believe it until I saw it for myself. Lord Hector was never so affectionate with anyone in his life, I should know! I also know for a fact he doesn't care for the color yellow and he seemed to like your dress so much. And he bought you such an expensive gift too!"

Florina fell silent and blushed. Fiora had a devilish grin as she put her arm around her sister's shoulder.

"You know he asked for my permission to court you and I said yes. I feel like he's been courting you for a while now. I hope that's what you wanted," the elder pegasus sister remarked. Florina only smiled.

"I knew that in typical Ostian courtships, the men like to shower their women with gifts. I didn't think Hector would start so soon after your return," she added.

"Oh it's only been a few days, he should have started the minute she stepped foot back in his household," Mirelle remarked. "Ostian frugality is hard to break. On another note, now that I know that you're Lord Hector's beau and that he likes this dress, allow me to alter it just a bit more…"

Mirelle got a pair of fabric shears and Florina took a step back. Just what was this woman thinking?

* * *

It just occured to me the odd timing of this chapter. The Royal Wedding is today and the preparations for Fiora's wedding are underway (and no, I didn't get up to see it. I just looked at the pictures and I was quite done). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.


	35. If Only I Could Make You Mine

**Chapter 35**

If Only I Could Make You Mine

* * *

Oswin said two big occasions that brought out the worst in people were weddings and funerals. Hector had scoffed at this, what on earth could he possibly mean? Just to prove him wrong, the young lord went out of his way to be helpful with the wedding plans. He already promoted Oswin to his advisor before he knew that he was to be married. That meant Oswin got nicer accommodations, but now they had to be decorated for two. Hector arranged for it all to be taken care of. The chapel was reserved, the flowers paid for, the fabric and beading for the wedding clothes were purchased, he arranged for the food and the music, the transportation for desired guests; money was no object, especially not with Oswin who was his dear friend. His generosity was only fueled by the fact that Fiora would be his sister in law very soon. He had been nothing but helpful the past few months.

Once Florina was in the equation, he was finding it hard to be so giving. Not materially, if Fiora or Oswin asked for it, he would easily buy it, have it gift wrapped and on their laps within the hour. The real issue was: Hector wanted to monopolize Florina's time and Fiora needed her sister to be filled in on all the details of the wedding as she was the only bridesmaid. Hector kept his composure for the most part, but would grumble every time Florina left with her sister to discuss wedding matters.

"Why can't she just elope or something?" he complained. He had waited ten months just to see Florina again and now she was here, in his household and always too busy to see him. That made no sense, this was _his_ castle, he should set the rules on whom he could and could not see and where and when he could see them. Hector knew he was being unreasonable. This would only last two more weeks, the wedding would happen and then she would be all his.

Apparently telling himself this didn't help much, as he was constantly summoning her. Eventually Fiora got so upset that she had a big argument with him. It started as bickering, it turned into shouting and eventually got so tumultuous that Oswin had to step in and, very respectfully, tell his lord off. It was then Hector knew he had to control himself.

It wasn't like he didn't have anything else to do. He had treaties to sign, laws to pass, letters to reply to, budgets to approve of and there would only be more as time wore on. Hector decided to work on his real responsibilities instead of whining because he wasn't getting the attention he wanted. It seemed to help, though he felt distracted all the while.

Naturally once he started his work he could not stop until most of it was done. With his constant procrastinating and day dreaming, this often would lead him to work until well in the night. It was during one of his all nighters that he heard the guards outside conversing with someone.

"A-at least let me talk to him briefly. I-I'll even stand in the door way so you can…so you can tell me when my time is up," a sheepish voice said. He smiled, Florina had come in the middle of the night to see him.

"Let her in," Hector commanded from his desk. Finally, his authority meant something. The guards opened the door and Florina stepped in. He had never seen her quite like this. True, he had bought the night gown she was currently wearing, but he bought it only because Fiora said was nice and that Florina would love it. He never actually stopped to picture her in it. He kicked himself for not buying something shorter and more revealing.

"I haven't seen you all day it seems," she said. "Only at breakfast, and then you were so tired you could barely hold a conversation."

"There's been a lot of work to do," he replied. He noted that she gracefully left out the whole argument that happened after breakfast. She flopped on one of the couches by the fire.

"I've been busy too."

They both were silent for a while. Hector was now too distracted to do his work, he had read the same sentence at least six or seven times and couldn't remember what it said. Florina turned over on her stomach and folded her arms over the arm of the couch so she could see him.

"Do you need help?" she asked. Hector took the stack of papers he had been skimming and set them aside.

"I think I'm going to call it a night," he confessed. He headed over to the couch and Florina made room for him to sit.

"We need some more time alone," he said finally. Florina rested her head on his shoulder.

"I agree," she replied. "Midnight rendezvous are not going to be enough."

"Is that what this is?"

"I believe so."

"I thought there'd be more involved."

"Hm? Oh do you mean more of this?"

Without warning she grabbed his collar and pulled him into a kiss. After getting over his shock, he pulled her closer, and she let her legs rest across his lap. Her hands were tangled in his hair while his traveled from her shoulder blades to the small of her back. He knew he had to exert much self control; they weren't even engaged yet, so he had to be careful just how much…loving he doled out. He gently pulled away and Florina breathed deeply and pressed her forehead against his neck.

"I think that's the first kiss you ever gave me," he commented. Florina smiled and wrapped an arm around his waist.

"I'm trying to follow the rules of Ostian courtship. 'Women do not initiate public displays of affection,'" she answered. "Really, your courtship and marriage practices are so out of sync with the rest of your culture. It's odd."

"Are Ilians all that different?" he asked.

"Not really, only slightly. But you grant your women so much for freedom than other Lycian provinces, yet they cannot openly show they care for their lover unless he allows it. And all the gifts during courtship all the elaborate weddings are in stark contrast to typical Ostian frugality."

Hector had never really thought of such things before. To him that was just the way things were. "I can't account for the first thing. But I get the idea that a man will shower his love interest with gifts to show that he has the money to provide for her and that he'd never be short handed or stingy with her. Do you not like your gifts?"

"No, I love them. I like them mostly because they're from you. They're all wonderful, I just…I'm not used to receiving such nice things. It's something I have to adjust to, that's all," she told him.

"Well, whatever you want, whatever you ask for, you will have it."

Florina looked up at him solemnly, "I want more time to be with you."

* * *

I'm so sorry for the late updates. I've been so exhausted this past week. Word to the wise: if for some reason you happened to be walking into a gym in the TriState area at five in the morning and see a frazzled girl with a big curly afro at the front desk, be kind to her. She may be too tired to even make it up the stairs to her computer when she gets home. The act of kindness may motivate her to at least crawl up the stairs and update from her laptop while lying her bedroom floor.

Also, for your pains, the next chapter will be posted in a few minutes.


	36. Our Own World

**Chapter 36**

Our Own World

* * *

Florina was more worried about going down the aisle than her sister. Fiora was beautiful and flawless as usual, Florina was busy fussing with her neckline. It was much lower than she would ever have chosen on her own. She knew it couldn't be that bad, Oswin didn't make Mirelle change it after he saw the adjustments so he had to approve.

She straightened her sister's veil and decided to focus more on Fiora than herself. Fiora on the other hand had not turned off her big sister mode even though it was _her_ day.

"Stop fussing with your dress, you look fine," she told her younger sister.

Florina sighed, "I'm sorry, it's just…you can see a lot of my…"

"Don't be so self conscious. Just take a deep breath and put your shoulders back," she advised. Florina nodded and held her bouquet in one hand and took her sister's arm with the other.

"Shall I escort you down the aisle my lady?" the younger girl asked. Fiora laughed.

"Yes you shall," she replied. Florina did just as her sister said, still aware of the eyes that followed them as they went through the wedding procession. She wasn't thinking about those who watched Fiora, she knew they were smiling and approving. It was Hector she was looking at. He had to observe the proceedings and he and Oswin were pretty close so he was there.

She gave her sister's hand to Oswin and took her seat next to Hector in the front row. They were both silent, perhaps of respect for the proceedings or because neither knew what to say. Florina felt so terrible; she was supposed to be thinking about Fiora, but all she could think of was trying to hold Hector's hand or wondering if he noticed the changes that Mirelle made to her dress. What was he thinking about?

Oswin and Fiora were joined in holy matrimony under the laws of Ostia and the regulations of Saint Elimine. Together they left the chapel husband and wife. Just behind them, were Hector and Florina arm in arm, both preoccupied with their own thoughts.

"I do believe you arranged this day very well, Lord Hector," she commented. Hector smiled absently. Florina looked up at him curiously.

"Am I no longer on punishment?" she asked.

"No. There's an old superstition that if a bridesmaid gets kissed on the wedding day, she won't get married for another seven years," Hector explained. Florina laughed and squeezed his arm a little. "Don't get me wrong, I'm not the superstitious type, I'm just not taking any chances."

Florina shook her head and began to twirl a lock of her hair.

"By the way…your dress looks nice," he said.

* * *

The dress is what he liked. Yeah..._sure_ Hector, that's all you were looking at.

Thank you for your continued reading of this fic. I promise to continue delivering the fluff until the end.


	37. Overflow

**Chapter 37**

Overflow

* * *

"What are you going to do for that day?" someone asked. Hector didn't know. He didn't want to think about it. So Uther had been dead for a year, why did there have to be all this commemoration? A speech, a song, a ceremony. The man had a funeral and was dead. His brother was cold in the grave for a whole three hundred and sixty five days. Why did he have to preserve alive his memory? To torture himself? Hadn't he been tortured enough? He had no family save one lone distant cousin and he hadn't heard from them in ages.

He allowed the proceedings, but he felt numb the whole time. Florina shed a few tears, but he didn't. Men don't cry unless there's sand in their eyes. There was no sand in Ostia. The day passed by in a blur. He spent the evening sitting in the throne room that was dimly lit by candles. He was over this. He was certainly over all of this. He was the Lord of Ostia, he was pushing ahead to the future.

"Hector?" a small voice called. He looked up, and nodded. He couldn't turn Florina away. She looked amazing, it was a dress that Mirelle had made yet again. This one did not sport the plunging neckline that the yellow one did, but it was still very nice, cinching in at her slender waist. Between Mirelle and Oswin, torturing him with Florina was a pastime. She came to his side and took his hand.

"Hector, are you all right?" she asked. Hector snorted and shook his head.

"Of course I'm all right. I'm great," he said. "I'm over this, I don't need to remember it. It's done, I can't change it, let's move on. What do people want me to do? Cry hysterically?"

"Maybe not hysterically, but you do need to let some of those bad feelings out," she insisted. He pulled his hand away from hers.

"Just because you need to cry about everything doesn't mean I have to!" he snapped.

Her fists balled, he could see it from the corner of his eye. He looked up at her his face expressionless, but he was stunned. Florina was angry, unspeakably so.

"I will try not to take too much offense at that last statement as you are grieving," she said.

"I'm not grieving."

"Yes, you are!"

"You know me well, but not well enough. I don't cry, I don't grieve because nothing can be done about the fact that my brother is _dead_!"

Florina winced at the volume of his voice. She closed her eyes he suspected to fight back tears, and expected her to back down. Instead, after a deep breath, she squared her shoulders and looked him in the eyes.

"The fact that you're yelling at me says that you're more upset about this than you let on," the pegasus knight said. "And I know for a fact that you did cry."

"I did not."

"Don't lie! Not to me! The last person you have to hide yourself from is me!" Florina shouted. Hector did jump when she spoke. He had never heard her get so loud. She had tears forming in her eyes, but her voice was powerful, almost cutting to him.

"We were back in Ostia after we heard the news, you were here by yourself. I was hiding like I always do and I saw you," she explained, her voice quieter this time. He couldn't fully deny that. No one was supposed to have seen him, especially not her. He had to be strong for her.

"It's important to move on. It's important not to let sadness get the best of you. But you can't let go until you let it out. You can't let a bird fly out of its cage if you always keep it locked. Grief is a very dangerous thing, it pecks away at your heart until it breaks."

That was easy for her to say. Florina cried about everything. She sensed her words fell on deaf ears and she shook her head in frustration.

"I've said all I can say to you. You can deny it, but I know what I saw. I'll cry for you in public, but…so you know…your tears are mine and mine alone," Florina told him. She turned to leave but he grabbed her arm quickly.

"Don't go," the young lord ordered. She pulled away, but he had a firm grasp on her wrist.

"You talk about crying freely and now you don't want me to see you cry, so you're trying to leave," Hector commented. She sat on the arm of his chair and they were both silent for what seemed like ages. Florina did cry though more from sheer frustration than from sadness. Her tears of anger burned him.

"I'm sorry, I…" he began.

This is what she wanted, right? To talk and rehash and get nothing done? Where could he start? He looked up at her and knew in an instant he didn't have to. She didn't need him to explain what he felt only that he stop trying to hold it in. Hector wouldn't cry. He only brushed his lips against her knuckles. Her hands were still pretty rough and he liked them. He held her hand against his cheek and kissed her palms.

"_Hector, I could only see you marrying a girl who could fight as well if not better than you do!"_

Uther had been right. If only Hector could hear his older brother's laughter at his plight, the kind that would shake the rafters. Uther would have had a field day with the ten month separation, had more fun torturing him with Florina than Oswin ever could. Who knows, his older brother might even have tried to steal her away from him. Hector supposed he'd never know.

"Uther would have really liked you, you know that?" Hector said finally. His eyes were becoming moist and he pulled Florina closer so she had to sit on his lap. He pressed his face against her neck.

"Please don't leave me. I…I have no other family," the lord confessed. She didn't say anything, but stroked his face, and seemed to be oblivious to the tears that she brushed away with calloused fingers.

* * *

I don't know why, but I always liked this chapter a lot. Shows them going through something bad but banding together. Oh yes, and the argument. Because they have to argue sometimes.

Ha, sorry for the late-ish update (hey, it's in before midnight!). This week is shaping up to be one of the worst ever for me. That being said, I can't forsee a reason why Friday's update will be late barring extreme illness or a trip to the hospital. So see y'all Friday.


	38. Red

**Chapter 38**

Red

* * *

By now Florina had been summoned to Hector's office so many times, the guards didn't think twice about letting her in. They were unphased when she'd show up late at night, or unsummoned. She still was very shy around them, but lately she had been managing a slight smile and a small bow. She did this as she entered Hector's office and was surprised not to find him there. Florina walked around, uncertain.

Florina ran a hand over the front of Hector's desk. It had papers strewn all over. She shook her head and put them in a neat stack and put his pen back in its inkwell stand. Out of curiosity she walked behind his desk and looked at the large family crest that was hanging on a tapestry on the wall. Leaning against the large chair, she took in all the primary colors, bright yellows, sharp reds, but mostly blue. She tired of this and eased herself into Hector's chair.

A grin spread across her face. So this was what it was like to be in charge of everything. She crossed her legs and leaned back confidently. This act didn't last long, as she felt far too strange. She settled for sifting through Hector's drawers. Not much of interest: more pens, ink powder, paper with the Ostian letterhead, official seals, wax…and a small leather book. Florina blinked at this discovery, the book was so out of place amid Hector's governmental papers.

She opened it and started to leaf through it. A smile formed, then a grin, then she began to giggle uncontrollably. It was a book of old poetry, each written to a different girl. "For Valerie," "Ode to Lenora," "To the Weapon Maker's Daughter," each was rather sappy but still sweet and heartfelt. Judging by the dates, Hector had to be only twelve when he started writing and almost fifteen by the time he stopped. Florina tried to imagine what Hector was like at that age. Was he skinny? Was he awkward around girls? Florina grinned and held her head in her hands. He was still very awkward around women. She loved him anyway.

Hector entered finally, a little shocked that Florina was behind his desk and even more surprised at her rather dreamy expression which disappeared quickly before she stood up and came to his side.

"What's with you?" he asked.

"I've been reading some very…entertaining poetry," she replied. He raised an eyebrow and she picked up his book and waved it in the air. Hector's eyes widened in horror and his face turned bright red.

Florina's jaw dropped, "Are you embarrassed?"

"I can't believe you read those! I knew I should have burned them…" he exclaimed. He sighed and began to mutter to himself as he leaned on a window pane. Florina grinned and hugged him from behind resting her head against his back.

"I think they're sweet," she said.

"They're awful," he snapped.

"They're from your heart. That's all a girl ever wants is to know what you really feel at your core. I think that's what you were trying to do back then," Florina replied, defending younger Hector. "I'm a little jealous. I didn't get any cute poetry."

Hector turned around and looked down at Florina's smiling face.

"Do you know why I can't write poetry for you?" he asked. She shook her head.

"Whenever I am with you, whenever I think about you, whenever I hear you laugh or see you smile, I am quite without words," he whispered in her ear. Florina felt her face grow hot and she bit her lip.

"I am a man of action after all," he breathed against the skin of her neck. She felt shivers go down her spine and she breathed sharply as he placed feathery kisses from just below her ear down to her collarbone.

"I hope you'll accept that instead of poetry," he told her. Florina sighed and buried her face in his chest. Hector may have been awkward with women, but he was surprisingly smooth with her.

* * *

More fluff for your weekend. It's about time Hector got embarassed.


	39. Candy

**Chapter 39**

Candy

* * *

If any of his male friends were to ask his favorite food, Hector would quickly grunt that it was some sort of steak. Fortunately for him, most men don't ask such questions and he wouldn't have to lie. For uncharacteristic of his brutishly harsh exterior, Hector absolutely loved and craved sweets. He loved confections of all kinds, but he liked candy the best. Hard candy, chewy candy, chocolate, caramel, taffy; he loved it all. He could never really indulge in front of others; he supposed he liked candy because it was easy for him to sneak. It could be easily concealed and gone within minutes.

He must have been getting rusty in his hiding spots, or Florina was just getting a little more adventurous in looking through his things, but he found her curled up in front of the fire place in his wing of the castle with a box of his favorite candy, completely empty. He wasn't really upset-he had eaten most of them already-still he put on a slightly annoyed look. His heart raced at seeing her tongue, now stained red by the sticky candy, lick away at what little stuck to her lips. Despite her best efforts, there was still some left. Now that wouldn't do.

Florina finally noticed him standing in the atrium and stood up holding the box apologetically, "I'm sorry I ate the last of your candy…"

"I've got another box," he told her.

Florina eased up enough to sit back down on his couch and put the box back in her lap.

"I was hoping you had more…maybe we can share evenly this time?" she said.

"Of course," Hector said. "But I always get the last taste."

"I guess that doesn't apply this time."

"Yes it does."

He leaned in closer and carefully licked every last trace of sticky residue from the candy off her lips and then carefully searched her sweet mouth. He hoped she didn't think that her thievery would go without consequences. She had to make up for all the candy he had "lost." When he finally pulled away, Florina was flushed, but still had her eyes on him lovingly.

"Hector…I thought we agreed yesterday that you wouldn't kiss me like that again until we were engaged," she said finally after regaining her composure. Hector sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. Why did he agree to that in the first place? Why was he following Oswin's advice and not engaged to her now? This all would have to be remedied very soon.

After they were engaged, he was buying a lot of candy.

* * *

Yes, more fluff. And...dare I even hint at it? This story is winding down, folks. I keep this thing as a massive Word file and break it up as I update. There's not much left. And when I'm done...well...


	40. Hey, You Know

**Chapter 40**

"Ano sa" ("Hey, You Know...")

* * *

Florina sized up her opponent quickly. Mostly because she knew Hector and his fighting style well enough to know what his advantages were. He was remarkably strong, and had near impenetrable defense. That was it; his defense was _nearly_ impenetrable. There were weak points. The untrained, run of the mill fighter could not spot them, but a skilled warrior as she had become could spot them with some observation. Added was the fact that she spent an entire year covering for his weaknesses made the playing field a little more even.

She had her own strengths. The pegasus knight may not have been as strong as Hector, but she was strong enough. Without Huey, hand to hand combat was slightly easier and Florina was much faster and agile than him. True, if Hector hit her, she'd be significantly affected, but that would only be a problem if he could catch her.

Florina shook her head; she was reading far too much into a simple sparring session. Hector fought much like he usually did, straight forward and easily read, and she dodged his wide axe swings with little effort. He didn't seem to be trying much. The two of them giggled as they fought, dodging and occasionally meeting blows.

It wasn't until Florina let her guard down and Hector placed a hit that she started to get more serious. Something about the actual contact made her…not angry, but she suddenly had an odd desire to get him back, to make him sweat, to make him rue the day he had ever challenged her to a spar. She stabbed her blunt practice spear into his ribs just under his breastplate and smirked.

That was when the casual training session got a little more violent. Strikes went for vital points, both mockingly pointing out flaws in fighting style. The grunting, the friction of the blades, the struggle between each other…they had to stop before some line was crossed. She couldn't figure out what it was, but they were going to cross it. Florina dropped her weapon, and Hector did likewise. She dropped to her knees and soon lay on her back, sweaty, panting and breathless. Hector sat down, equally as winded.

"You know what?" Hector began. Florina rolled over on her stomach so she could see him. He was still breathing hard and looking up at the sky.

"What is it, Lord Hector?" she said softly in between deep breaths.

"We could run away right now. We could leave Ostia behind and become mercenaries. We'll stand by each other no matter what, and all we'll have to worry about is ourselves."

Florina propped herself up on her elbows, "Why would you want to do that?"

"It's the life I planned…well, you weren't in it when I planned it, but I had planned to live the life of a mercenary. This was of course assuming Uther would take over Ostia…"

The pegasus knight bit her lip and looked down. Hector understood a lot of things, but she forgotten he wasn't like her. He was never poor, he never _had_ to live a mercenary's life. He wanted so badly to live a life of freedom, or what he termed as freedom. Hector really was a spoiled palace brat speaking nonsense.

"You would have never lasted. You would have gone home after barely six months," she mumbled. Hector was angered by that last statement and he glared at her.

"You don't think I'm strong enough?" he snapped. "We can go another round if you want, then you'll see!"

Florina flinched at the tone of his voice, but she would not back down. He had to know.

"You're more than capable of fighting. You're much better than most mercenaries out there, I've seen that," she explained. "But…you'd never adjust to doing without. No one is at your beck and call. You live from job to job, earning enough to keep a roof over your head and perhaps enough food to keep you from starving. You can't always afford to buy new weapons, so you'll have to make do with what you have. That may affect what employers hire you. Sometimes you're cold. Sometimes you're very, very hungry, but no one is hiring, so there is no food and no place to stay. Sometimes you fight your friend, sometimes you work with your enemy. You rarely agree with what you're fighting for…Hector, I love you and I respect all that you are able to do, but living as a mercenary…just isn't something I could see you doing. In your life, you have the option to quit. For someone like me…"

Hector was silent for long time.

"Weren't you going to become a mercenary?" he asked.

"Yes. But I really had no other choice. There is no freedom in being a mercenary only constant want physically or emotionally. It is a job that can run you into an early grave. But…most ways of life in Ilia will drive you to a quick death, I just chose one with some honor attached."

He stared at her for a long time and Florina wouldn't look at him. It was only a matter of time before she found herself in tears.

"I always bring up stupid stuff that makes you cry…" he said, pulling her into his arms. He was still sweaty from the match, but he didn't smell any worse than he had when they were marching in the army. Florina buried her face in his chest. It was rather comforting to do, especially because she could feel his heart race whenever he held her close.

"If you wanted to be a mercenary…I'd follow you," she said finally. "I may not agree, and I'd let you know, but I'd go with you. I…I promised to be by your side."

"I have obligations to Ostia, I must stay here," he said. "And I have an obligation to make you happy. You don't want to live the life of a mercenary, and I won't make you."

"If we had no other choice, then…there's no one I'd rather fight along side."

Hector leaned in close to kiss her, she could feel the heat of his lips against hers, their breath mingling but he stopped. The closeness and the unfulfillment were unbearable. Finally he kissed her cheek, leaving Florina strangely unsatisfied. He smirked at her and she, shaking with some emotion between rage, disappointment and maddened desire grabbed her spear.

"One more round. Best two out of three," she said. Hector readied his axe.

"You're on," he replied.

* * *

I apologize deeply for the late update. I was up for 20 hours straight working on Thursday and by Friday I was pretty much asleep all day. I'll be updating tomorrow, so I'm not going to give two chapters today. Maybe tomorrow I will.


	41. Gardenia

**Chapter 41**

Gardenia

* * *

Oswin, Fiora, Florina and Hector had started the practice of having breakfast together. Seeing Florina every morning was something he looked forward to and hoped to wake up to the sound of her soft breathing in the near future. However, he truly loved the company of Oswin and Fiora. It was oddly comforting to hear Oswin's dry breakfast humor and have Fiora chide him with the reminder to keep his elbows off the table and not to leave his empty spoon in his mouth. He mostly loved just looking at Florina.

This particular morning was no different on the surface, but Hector had a very, very important matter on his mind. Florina being at the center of the issue made her more of a subject of preoccupation than usual.

"Yes, Hector?" Florina began looking up from her plate finally. Oswin smirked unabashedly and Fiora stifled laughter. "You've been staring at me all throughout breakfast…it's a little unnerving. Is there something you wanted to tell me?"

Certainly there was, but he couldn't explain it to her quite…he needed the right words, and they simply were not coming.

"It's…nothing. Nothing at all," he told her. In reality it was a big something. For Hector had decided that every moment that Florina was not promised to him was plain miserable. His coronation was but a few weeks away, he could propose now, and announce his engagement the same day he was made marquess and kill two birds with one stone. He had a ring, he knew he had her heart, but asking her was one of he hardest things he found himself taking on.

She left breakfast and he followed, Fiora and Oswin's laughter echoing down the hall. He would kill them for enjoying his awkward moments so much.

"Are you sure there isn't something you want from me Hector?" she asked.

"It's really nothing…" Hector said.

"But you want something," she finished. The pegasus knight took her hand in his. "You know you can tell me anything."

"This is not so simple…"

"Then it's certainly not nothing as you claim," she said.

"Will you…" he paused and she kept her eyes on him, as they widened in anticipation.

"Will you spend the day with me?" he asked. She let out a breath, as though she had stopped breathing.

"Of course," she answered. He grinned and took her hand in his. Without telling her their destination, he summoned his horse and Florina saddled Huey up for a ride. Hector led the way, Florina flying just above him.

"Where are we going?" she asked finally after some time had passed.

"I _was_ going to take you to town," the young lord told her.

"Oh, don't!" Florina protested.

"We're going someplace else."

She sighed in relief. They stopped soon, Hector explaining that they had to continue on foot. It was a little overcast, but the forest was still vibrantly green. Hector smiled and put his arm around Florina's shoulders and held her close. He loved the way her hip curved against his body, the way she'd smile dreamily as though she knew their proximity was a mite too close, but didn't want to acknowledge or correct it.

They arrived at their destination. It was an abandoned manor house. The doors had long since rotted, and Hector confidently walked in, leading Florina. She didn't seem to quite understand why he wanted her to see this place; it was musty, with mold and plants growing in areas, but he didn't really want her to see the house. He walked straight through to the garden. Florina gasped. True, it was horribly overgrown, but that was what made it beautiful. Flowering vines lined the walls, trees towered to great heights, flower bushes grew large and untamed. True there were weeds and small animals crept in the shadows, but she was so overwhelmed by the flowers. The grey day didn't dampen their bright hues.

"This is…lovely…" she whispered.

"It's kind of my secret spot. You are welcome here whenever you like. I just wanted to show it to you," he told her. "I think this means a little more than another shopping spree."

Florina hugged him, leaning her head against his chest. It never failed to make his heart beat quicken just a bit.

"Oh please, hold off on the gifts! I don't want another thing," she said. "I feel so weird going to the barracks with all those dresses and finery…"

"I told you to stop sleeping there and stay in the castle," Hector insisted.

"I don't belong there, Hector," she said softly. "I'm not nobility, I'm not of your private staff, I'm just me."

"And you are the woman I love and am going to marry. If you want to belong any where I will make it happen."

"You haven't established the 'going to marry' part yet."

"Let's fix that then."

He held out a small box to her and she gasped.

"You know what this is, and you know what I'm going to ask. But because I know you are not one to assume even the obvious, I'm going to ask you officially. Will you marry me?"

She looked up at him, tears in her eyes, "Yes. Of course I will."

Hector solemnly and ceremoniously opened the box and slid the ring on her left ring finger and knelt and kissed her hand.

"The Lord of Ostia should not kneel even to someone who shall someday be the Lady of Ostia," Florina protested, wiping at her eyes.

"Forget ettiquete, rank and decorum for a moment. I am just Hector and I will always kneel before the woman I have bound my life to."

Florina gave way to tears and he pulled her down to her knees so she could rest her head on his shoulder. She was crying because of him yet again, but for once he hadn't said or done anything stupid. He hoped. Eventually, her crying and sniffles subsided and he was certainly glad of that.

"I'm glad you bought me here," she said. Hector nodded and sighed, looking up at the trees that hid the sky. Florina placed her hand on his cheek and he looked down at her with a smile. Her eyes seemed to be searching his own for something, she smoothed his hair. She leaned in closer to him, just before their lips met she paused, and Hector couldn't bear the feel of her breath against his skin. There was one soft kiss, a second that was a little firmer, and finally she slipped her tongue into his mouth. Her kiss was slow and gentle, yet Hector was nearly overwhelmed by her tenderness. Steadying her with one arm, he eased back using his other. Florina hardly skipped a beat, and ran her fingers through his hair.

Hector kept her torso flush with his; the feel of every curve of her body pressed against his own was something he had been wanting for some time now. She only broke the kiss after she felt satisfied that he knew how she felt, but just in case he didn't know, she leaned in close to his ear and breathlessly whispered, "I love you."

No sooner had she done that, when thunder rolled in the distance. Hector jumped in surprise and Florina giggled.

"We should be going home, don't you think?" she said. He nodded in agreement. Rain began to fall as they headed back to the castle, and Fiora began to scold them as they come in from their trip soaking wet.

"What on earth were you doing?" she snapped.

"Getting engaged…sister," Hector replied. It then struck him, that in marring Florina, he then was in a strange way related to Oswin. Hector decided he wouldn't mind that so much. He'd someday grow used to his child screaming, "Uncle Oswin!" down the halls of his Ostian castle.

* * *

Well, guys. Count down, this fic is almost over. It's been a ride. (Apologizing for the late update. I was once again curled up on my bed asleep all day)


	42. Say Ahh

**Chapter 42**

"Say Ahh..."

* * *

"I really wish you two had gotten engaged sooner!" Mirelle complained as she fitted Florina for her dress. "I couldn't make such a fancy dress for someone who wasn't of noble station, and now that you are—"

"I'm not yet…" Florina protested. Mirelle narrowed her eyes at the girl in the mirror and Florina shut her mouth.

"Technicalities or not, you are Lord Hector's fiancée and if you were caught _dead_ at Lord Hector's corination in the rags I had to sew for you, imagine how he'd look!"

Florina wasn't used to this elaborate dress. It was dark purple, and was once again cut just a little lower than she was comfortable with. Oh, she had already tried to get Oswin to persuade Mirelle to change it, but he said, "You're not a cleric, dear sister. It's hardly a vulgar cut. Besides, Fiora and I agree that it flatters you quite well."

Florina wasn't the vengeful type, but she'd pay them all back double for using her to tease Hector. The details in the dress itself were just too much for Florina; all the painstaking tucking and draping.

"No beading or embroidery this time, my lady," Mirelle explained. "We have to save all that for your wedding clothes."

Which Florina learned consisted of four outfits. Florina was used to wearing the same thing for months at a time, how was she going to change into four detailed outfits in one day?

"There," Mirelle said, biting off a bit of thread. "Lord Hector has bought you new jewelry to go with it, but even without all your accessories, I say you look lovely."

Florina herself was a little taken aback. She ran her hands over the dark fabric and smiled thoughtfully. It certainly was the most elaborate dress she had ever worn. She only barely heard Mirelle call for Lord Hector as the older woman left the room. She tried to picture how she'd look that day. She'd have her hair different, more jewelry, some make up… All eyes would be on her and Hector at the coronation. What would they think of such a plain looking girl being their lady? Make up and a dress would not change what she was. At least Ninian _looked_ like nobility, Florina knew that she couldn't even fake it. A Lady of Ostia should be striking, able to stop men dead in their tracks. Florina's thought process was thrown off by Hector and Mirelle entering the room.

"I don't know why I have to see it," Hector complained. "I've seen Florina in a dress be…fore…"

She turned slowly studying his reaction. Hector stared for the longest time and Florina felt her face flush up and she laughed. She walked over to him slowly, wrapped her arms around his neck and stood on her tip toes to give him a quick peck on the lips.

"Wake up, my lord. You seem to be in a daze," the pegasus knight cooed. He pushed her back and twirled her around.

"You look…I can't even begin to tell you how good you look," Hector told her.

"Well, that's the closest you ever came to 'oohing' and 'ahhing' at anything I've ever made. Really, you should have brought her around sooner," Mirelle commented. "Now if you're at a loss for words with this dress, what I'm making for the wedding will leave you breathless."

Hector was smoothing Florina's hair and gazing into her eyes, "I already am…"

* * *

Hm...I've always felt this wasn't my strongest chapter. Normally I'd just give you another one to make up for this one...but there are so few chapters left...


	43. Kilohertz

**Chapter 43**

kHz (kilohertz)

* * *

Oswin nearly burst a blood vessel when Hector told him that he still hadn't written his speech for the coronation which was only three days away. Once again, with icy respect, Oswin told the young lord how very upset he was and told Hector to work on his speech and not to see anyone until he was finished. Hector felt just like a child on punishment. He knew what he had to do and worked diligently on his speech. Unfortunately for him, he was making no progress. He'd start talking about Uther, choke up and throw it out. Then he'd start writing about how he was unworthy of the position and sound like a moron and he'd toss that idea too.

He put his head down on his desk and wallowed in despair. What could he speak of? How could he exude his confidence yet not seem too cocky? How could he talk about his past actions without sounding like a complete simpleton? The door creaked open and Florina poked her head inside and waved.

"Oswin said I may come in only if I offered to help you work," she told him. "Do you need help?"

Hector didn't want to admit that he did, but his silence and her looking around and noting the crumpled papers and smudged ink gave her an idea of what was going on. She shook her head sighed.

"How about, you dictate and I'll write," she told him. "About how long does the speech have to be?"

"Fifteen minutes at least," he said getting up from his desk. Their fingers brushed as they switched places.

"That's relatively short. I see you haven't started much. Any ideas that you have trouble working with?"

"All my ideas either make me look stupid or get me too emotional—I-I mean…"

"I get it," Florina interjected. She was silent for a while before she dipped a pen in ink and began to draw circles on a piece of paper. She smiled slightly.

"Do you remember how we first met? All the things that were going on?" the pegasus knight asked.

"Of course I do. How can I ever forget? To think one of my ploys to get out of the castle was actually a worthwhile venture," Hector replied.

"Tell me about it, from the beginning. I never did ask you how that whole journey affected you."

Hector grinned. Talking about fighting and friendship were things that he knew he was good at. So he began, from the humble beginnings of sneaking out of the castle to aid Eliwood to returning to Ostia in a blaze of glory. All the while Florina seemed to be grinning softly and writing. He didn't understand why, it was just the stupid story of his life.

"My dearest lord, I believe you just painted the portrait of a cocky young man who was well meaning yet unrefined, to a strong warrior who has intense loyalty for his friends and keeping peace in Lycia," Florina told him after she put the pen down. "Isn't that all the people want to hear? Someone who is strong enough to keep them safe, yet wise enough to know when not to fight? Someone who is so loyal to his people that he will do all in his power to help them? The way you took that hit for Nils was just…anyway, I cleaned up some parts, took out even more, but tell me if this is all right."

He scanned through it, amazed at some of the diction she used. He gazed at her over the pages.

"It's like my thoughts were put in your head by tiny little waves or something," the blue haired lord commented.

"Tiny little waves?" Florina said tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"I don't know what I'm talking about. But you took everything I was thinking about and made it sound so…official. Why are you a better writer than I am?" he asked. She looked down sheepishly.

"I was to draw up mercenary contracts with royalty if I finished my training. I couldn't have poor spelling and grammar. Naturally, in writing so much I furnished my own style," Florina replied.

"My only critique is, you're not in this at all," Hector commented. She shook her head.

"This is between you and the people of Ostia. I should not be involved," the pegasus knight commented. "I believe I gave you a good start. I shall take my leave."

"Not without a goodnight kiss," he protested. It was nothing but a soft lingering kiss, but Florina sighed into it any way.

"Good night," she whispered against his lips. She got up from his desk and left the room. Hector stared at the door for an eternity. The truth was, from that day forward, she had everything to do with the people of Ostia. How would he introduce her to them?

"Good people of the court, may I present to you the most gentle, courageous and skilled woman I know. The future Lady of Ostia, Florina."

Florina of Ostia. It had a nice ring.

* * *

Ladies and gentlemen! I know I've been saying it for a while but…the coronation is happening soon. And do you know what that means? It's over! I don't know why I'm super bummed about it. May also be the lack of sleep compounding my over reaction…


	44. Good Night

**Chapter 44**

Good Night

* * *

How did one say good night to a very important person on the eve of the most important day of their life? Florina spent hours agonizing over it. What did she say? She should say something meaningful, something that would reassure him, but she wasn't sure what. She lingered by his office, twirling a lock of her hair between her fingers and biting her lip. Finally, she took a deep breath and walked in.

Hector wasn't at his desk, but by one of the many grand windows that lined the walls. He was oddly tense, but Florina expected it with tomorrow being such a big day. She came up behind him and placed her hands against the small of his back and slowly slid them upward, fanning out when she reached his shoulders and running her fingers down his arms. She then nuzzled between his shoulder blades and wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing her palms against his chest.

He relaxed a bit in her embrace and grabbed her hands and kissed her knuckles. It was but a short while before he turned around to face her his eyes tired, and hers understanding. She placed a hand on his cheek and smiled. Florina pulled him down a bit so she could place her forehead against his without having to stand on her tiptoes. She heard him breathe through his teeth sharply, the feel of her warm breath over his lips and no immediate kiss always was much too tempting for him. He'd have to wait, she wasn't just going to rush in. Finally, she kissed the corner of his mouth, then pressed her lips fully against his. It wasn't a deep kiss, but it was a slow and lingering one, as she pulled away, she lightly raked her teeth against his bottom lip.

She ran her hand from his cheek, grazing his jawline, down the side of his neck, over his collar bone and rested over his heart. He could not tear his eyes away from hers, but she could tell he understood. He placed his hand over hers where it rested on his chest.

"Good night to you too," he whispered.

* * *

I know this is short. No, I will not be giving you the next chapter in an hour or so. Why? Because it's the last one…That's right, after years and years of writing...this is finished. Expect the final update on Tuesday.


	45. Superstar

**Chapter 45**

Superstar

* * *

Florina watched Hector pace back and forth. It wasn't like him to be so worried about such things as his appearance, and what others thought, but today…today was different. After Mark had come to say his greetings, Hector practiced his speech for the sixth or seventh time. Florina fidgeted nervously with her dress.

"Will you stop that? You look amazing today, you don't have to be constantly primping," he said. Florina looked down and twirled the ring on her left hand.

"I'm just…nervous. I'm not used to the way nobles do things and I'm just not sure I'm cut out for it," she told him. He cupped her cheek and she tried not to cry.

"It doesn't matter what has been done previously. You set the pace for yourself," Hector said. "I should take my own advice."

He began to pace again and Florina sighed in frustration. Hector finally stopped pacing and looked around slowly as though he finally realized where he was. He spun around to Florina with a devilish grin and wild laugh. He picked her up by her waist and spun her around.

"What has changed your spirits so, Hector?" she asked. The lord pulled her close so he could whisper in her ear.

"There's still time," he said softly. "We can run away and leave this all behind. It can be just you and me until the end of our days. No nobles, no provinces, no peace keeping, no fighting for our lives…nothing but us. You, Huey and I can just go and live somewhere far away and peaceful."

Florina didn't want to point out that she knew of no such place. The idea of not having to deal with so much responsibility made her game for the situation. No prying eyes, no whispers, no judgments, just Hector. She wasn't keen on the idea of mercenary life, but it was something she was familiar with and knew how to cope with. This new life of courts and manners was something rather alien to her. She nodded and bit her lip.

"Let's go now," she said. Hector grabbed her hand and reached for the door knob when it swung open on its own. Well they found out that it wasn't quite so much enchantment as it was Oswin.

"And where do you think you're going?" he inquired. Hector shot a glance back at Florina and she looked down in defeat.

"To the front of the castle, where our people await…" the young lord replied dutifully. Oswin snorted and shook his head. Hector let out a long sigh and held out his arm to Florina. She took it and walked with him down the long hallway toward the cheering crowds. The closer they got the more Florina felt like retreating into her shell. So many, many people…

"Florina?" Hector began. She turned to reply, instead he caught her lips in a kiss. "What ever happens, I'm here."

There was still time to run. There was still time to cause a scene and escape the castle. There was plenty of time to flee to the countryside never to be heard from again. Instead they walked. The two of them hand in hand walked to the future; opening the wide doors of the castle and stepping into the sun and greeting the people as Lord and Lady of Ostia.

* * *

**The End**

* * *

That's it people. This story is over. I've been working on this off and on for five years and…well…finishing this is like good-bye to high school/college me forever. That chapter of my life is done and this is really closing everything up. Thanks so much everyone who has been reading this and will read this.

What's next for me? I have a few fics for other fandoms up my sleeve. Anyone in Ouran Host Club, Havest Moon or Death Note fandoms? You'll be really happy in the coming months. But as Fire Emblem is the fandom I can't quit, I'll be back. Hector and Florina don't have a wedding one shot I like, I have an alternate timeline thing, a Lucius/Serra fic, I feel something must be done for Oswin and Fiora and as Florina is my fandom bicycle, she is not done being in random and improbable pairings.

And yes, this story will be here. For your enjoyment. Thank you for making this such a fun ride!


End file.
